My Life's a Soap Opera
by blockofthewritingkind
Summary: this is the edited, unbetaed version form AFF Demyx's life is like a soap opera Bad home life, sucky school. But that all changes when he is forced to go live with the cousins he's never heard of and go to ao school that hates him becasue there, he meets
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

They say that everyone has their own amount of unhappiness in their life. They also say that how you handle it and what kind of person it turns you into depends on how much happiness you have. While I won't say I like unhappiness by any means, I don't think I would like the human race if there wasn't at least some unhappiness in the world, because then we wouldn't technically have happiness.

Am I making any sense?

I didn't think so.

Sorry, I tend to ramble like that. It doesn't take much to get me distracted and off topic.

What was I going to tell you? Oh yeah! This is another one of those "This is my story, so glad you have the time to sit an listen to me ramble about how much my life sucked before that one special person came into my life and fixed it for me" stories. Sort of, anyway. Wow, that was a mouthful. Well, if you're still interested in listening, then by all means sit down and listen. If not, I'm not going to handcuff you to the chair. I learned my lesson about that with Larxene.

…

Don't ask. I won't tell. I like my sanity (what's left of it) quite well thank you, and recalling that particular incident-

I'm off topic again, aren't I?

See, I told you, I am easily distracted!

Anyway! I probably don't have the worst life in the world, just one of the most fucking dramatic. I mean, you watch the news all the time and there is much worse shit going on in other people's lives. For example, everyone in my family could be dead. I could be a junkie on the streets selling himself for money to pay for the smack or whatever I'm hooked on, before one day tragically getting HIV or something else just as bad, or worse. Then I would end up slowly wasting away in a gutter by myself with no one to care for me because I'm a disease-ridden, homeless whore that no one would want to touch or help. Before you knew it, I would waist away and eventually die in my own private, filthy gutter. Now that would be a fucked up life, and I guarantee you that there is someone out there who is at least in a similar position right now.

Sucks to be them. Though, when you're sixteen, you don't tend to think like that. I mean, sure some people do, and some claim to. But not really all that many actually give a shit. That's how I was when I was that age.

Hold your horses! I'm getting to the story! Just be patient! All of this has a point, I promise!

Besides, this is just the prologue. I mean, I could jump right into the story, but come on, I just told you that this has a point and -ARHG! I did it again!

Ok Demyx. Take a deep breath and get back on track.

As I was saying, when I was sixteen, I never really thought much about other people's lives unless they directly effected me. For the majority of my life, (Pre-K through my junior year of high school) I attended Never Was Public Institute for Learning. Yeah, it sounds like some kind of prison to me too. And why they added the 'learning' on there will forever remain a mystery to me. Unless they meant learning how to become criminals and fuck up you life.

In that school, you were adopted by a gang the minute you hit the campus at age four until you left (hopefully alive) in your……well, until you left. This, for me (as I have mentioned,) was in my junior year. But we'll get to that later, because it does play a significant part of my story. Hell, with out that fact I wouldn't have a plot line! But more on that in a bit.

So in pre-K, I joined a gang, along with three other kids my age; Larxene, Marluxia, and Luxord. We were placed under the care of an older kid, We were placed into the care of an older kid, along with another boy who had joined up the previous year. He was a first grader, and his name was Axel. His job was to keep us with him and out of the way. We were more like the messengers and drug runners of the group, rather than part of the gang, and the older kids watched out for us. I mean, who suspects a fucking five-year-old of carrying drugs around campus? (Certainly not security.) So when we reached the fifth grade, we got our official Initiation Beating by that year's senior members, and became a part of the official gang."

So yea, school sucked. But I could always find relief at home, right?

Wrong! (Of course.)

My father was never home, and my mother was always home.

You're be thinking "Hooray for mom," right?

However, that wasn't necessarily a good thing- she was always drinking herself into a stupor, or drinking enough to get herself royally fucked up. Then, would always get good and pissed off at something only she could see or understand, and go completely ballistic. This is always about the time I came home from school, and she would rant and rave at me. Sometimes she would hit me, or throw bottles at me, then pass out on the nearest available surface. When my dad was home, they would fight about her drinking habits and his addiction to his work and the possibility that he was fucking his secretary.

So yeah, my life could have been worse.

No, I'm serious. I mean, I was so used to it, that I didn't even really think about it. As long as I had my small group of friends from the gang (the four previously mentioned people. Well, three since Axel had been expelled/arrested in middle school for nearly setting one of the teacher's houses on fire) and my trusty sitar, I was good.

And then I moved away. Someone called social services. I'm not sure who, but I have the sneaking suspicion that it was one of my aunts who never called or came to visit except that one time and then they were scared off forever. Either way, I went to live with a cousin of mine and his two younger brothers, who were just starting the ninth grade that year. So I was to go to school with them.

It was…..different. I mean, I liked Cloud and Sora (Roxas kind of scared me) but it was so…..quiet. Well, unless Sora got a hold of something with sugar or caffeine (or both) in it. Or Cloud's friend Yuffie came over for a visit. But even then, that was different. I….liked it. I liked it a lot. And really, for the first time I saw how really fucked my life had been up until that point. Not that I got depressed. I had always had a rather…unusual disposition for someone with my background. Besides, I had been rather lucky so far. I was still alive-and sane. (Which was a plus.)

I still didn't know how much more shit I was in for before it was all over though. Especially when not only did my parents get divorced, but they started fighting to regain custody over me. Both of them. Separately. At the same time. And that was just the beginning! The rest I kind of caused myself though. That's where our story begins.

Yeah, I know, my life's a soap opera.

Some of you are shaking your heads in disbelief, I know it. Well, you are entitled to your own opinions, and I suppose that if I were hearing it from your point of view, I wouldn't really believe it either. But keep in mind, all of this happened over a space of sixteen years. A lot of shit can happen in sixteen years.

Anyway, now that you know my rather sorry background, here is where all of that comes into play. Yes, now we are finally at the story. You may breath a sigh of relief. 


	2. the actual chapter 1

ok, here's the deal. People have been asking me to update on AFF and I feel bad about not getting around to it, but my beta is out of commision for now, so I'm putting up the crappy version on here. When Drea-chan is better, I will take this one down and continue on with the un-edited one. Untill then, please settle for this

Chapter 1

I wouldn't mind school if I didn't have to get up so damn EARLY!!!!!

I am, by nature, a very sound sleeper. It comes with parents who can't hear each other unless they shout. So when someone is sneaking up on me in the mornings, I do not wake up. In fact, if someone were to prance around my room banging on a drum and blowing a French horn, I would probably not wake up then either.

However, if two fourteen year old twins decide to jump on me without warning and yell in my ear while hitting me with a pillow, I will most DEFINATLY wake up.

"DEMYXWAKEUPTIMEFORSCHOOLHEYTAREYOUAWAKYETCUZYOUSHOULDBEWEHAVETOLEAVEINTENMINUETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

That would be Sora, the youngest of the "terrible duo." Now, normally, he's the sweetest kid on the block, but I think this morning Cloud let him have coffee. When he has coffee, Sora turns pure EVIL!

Roxas, on the other hand, was already evil to begin with, and was therefore sitting on my torso whacking at my head with the pillow I mentioned earlier.

How can two kids so cute be oh so evil?

"Shut the fuck up and got away….." I muttered, snatching the pillow away from my blond cousin and putting it under my head where it belonged. Sleeepppp……

"NOOOOOOOOOO! YOU CAN'T!!!!!!!!!!!!" Sora wailed, yanking the pillow away form me as Roxas tore away my covers, unwinding me and dumping my unceremoniously onto the cold, hard floor. "SCHOOL IN IN TWENTY MINUETS!!!!! YOU CAN'T BE LATE ON YOUR FIRST DAY!!!!!!!!!"

I yawned and glared at him, commandeering my pillow back and placing it once again under my head on the floor.

"Watch me." I yawned. I used to skip first period all the time. No one gave a fuck. Why should I start losing sleep now, just because I was going to Destiny High now, instead of Never Was? Answer: I shouldn't.

"Hehe, still as lazy as ever Dem?" A smooth voice that belonged to neither of my annoying cousins reached my ears. I sat up quickly, all sleepiness forgotten…for the moment at least. I knew that voice! I hadn't heard it in years, but it leaves an impression.

"Holy fuck! Axel?!?!" I yelped. Sora immediately fell silent, both he and Roxas watching my long lost red-headed pal and me stare at each other, Axel with that damned amused look plastered all over his face, and me sitting on the floor in my boxers gaping at him like an idiot.

"That's me! Got it memorized?" He said teasingly. I jumped up.

"Holy shit man! I haven't seen you since, like, the seventh grade! Where the fuck have you been? We were worried they had kept you in the pen or something…" I exclaimed. Axel just smirked, the insensitive jerk. We had been worried about him! We hadn't heard a thing from him since we saw him get hauled off by the police.

"Nope. It was attempted arson. I was in juvie for half a year." He said with a shrug. "but more on that later. Blondie and his hyperactive mirror image here are right. We have to get going." He eyed me in that way I had always hated. Like he was sizing me up and wasn't very impressed. Damn Axel. Hadn't changed a bit.

"You might want to get dressed. I mean, you can go around like that if you want, but you'll probably end up getting fucked by the principal." I gave him a confused look but he just grinned.

"Nice to see you still have your sense of humor…" I mutter, grudgingly standing and pulling a random shirt out form under my bed, sniffing it, and then pulling it over my head before going through the same process with a random pair of jeans. (well, except those went up my legs ands not over my head.) Axel simply snorted, walking over to Roxas and draping an arm over his shoulder while Sora bounced around me as I pulled on my socks and tennis shoes.

"HURRYHURRYWEREGONNABESOLATE! GOEATSOMETHINGANDLETSGO!!!!!!!!!!!" I rolled my eyes, glancing over at Roxas as he and a snickering Axel passed by, heading for the door.

"Is he always so hyper on the first day of school?" I asked. Roxas sighed and shrugged.

"Ever since he met that sophomore…what's his name….Riku? He's been hyper every time we go somewhere that will require them to be in a five mile radius of each other." He said, causing Axel, a few steps ahead of us, to laugh louder.

Twenty Minuets Later At Destiny High

"RIKU!!!!!" I was both surprised and slightly mortified when the first thing Sora did when he entered the auditorium was glomp a young man with long silver hair and…..I couldn't really tell you the color of his eyes since his bangs were in the way.

Much to my surprise, however, the guy didn't shove him away. Instead, he laughed and ruffled my cousin's hair affectionately. (much to his little group of friend's obvious chagrin.) I smiled. And here I had been worried that no one would be able to put up with the kid more than five minuets.

"Yo, Dem!" I looked up at the sound of Axel's voice. He was beckoning me over to where he and Roxas were seated in on the third bleacher down. Hefting my pack a little higher on my shoulder, I headed upward and plunked down in fount of them on the bleacher below, and was joined by Cloud (who was a senior) a moment later.

Cloud had driven Sora and I to school that morning, while Axel had offered Roxas a ride. I did not envy him, as just watching the bright red car swerving around WAY ahead of us on the road made me sick to my stomach. Cloud was a much safer, much more calm driver, thank you very much, and I did value my life.

"Man, I hate the first day assembly. I mean, yea we get to skip first period, but we still have to sit and listen to Mr. Mansex preach all day. Fucken A." Axel muttered, pulling a lighter out of his pocket and fiddling with it. Axel was an avid smoker and the habit as one he had had back when I had known him.

"Mansex?" I said, feeling a grin slip onto my face, even though I had no idea what they were talking about. Axel grinned that grin that he had given me this morning when he had mentioned my state of dress and getting….how did he put it?…."fucked by the principal?" ….the one that just let you KNOW he was thinking something dirty.

"Yea, look." He took a piece of paper. On it he wrote "Mr. Xemnas" as Roxas groaned, though it looked like he was trying to hide a laugh.

"Okkkkkkkk………" I said slowly, not really getting it. Axel just pointed to it.

"Now rearrange the letters and tell me what you get."

I squinted at the paper. Lets see…Mexnas? Senmax? Xamnes? I was lost. I looked up at Axel with an "I-don't-follow-you" look. Axel sighed in exasperation and began scribbling on the paper again.

"Honestly, Dem, that blond is really showing through." He muttered, laughing. I glared at him, but ended up with the piece of paper getting shoved into my face for all of my troubles.

"Now look."

I took the paper and held it at a reasonable distance (my eyes do have limits, thank you very fucking much.) and raised an eyebrow, trying not to, but feeling my face flush what I'm sure turned out to be, thanks to my light skin, a bright fuchsia. 

The paper read "Mansex."

"Oh." was all I had to say. Well, now Axel's comment about the principal fucking me made sense.

Speaking of Axel, the bastard was cracking up and making comments about my blush.

"Dude, you STILL blush like a fucking GIRL!" he shouted in delight, making several people look our way in curiosity. I felt my face go warmer. Roxas elbowed Axel sharply in the ribs, though I could tell he was having trouble not laughing at me himself.

"Axel, shut up before you make him bleed out his ears." he scolded. Yup, I love my dear, sweet cousins. Note that some amount of sarcasm does apply here.

"Whatever." I muttered, wadding the paper up and throwing it at the red-head, who just laughed harder. I turned away, scowling.

"Awww….Dem is POUTING!" Axel crowed. I growled. I do not POUT! I scowl. Pouting is for girls, and I may be gay (yes gay. Got a problem with it? Either don't bother me with it, or I can introduce you to Mr. Switch Blade. I still carry him around in my pocket.) but POUTING is something only a girl or a feministic person would do. And I am neither, thank you very much.

…….Don't look at me like that. I'm fucking serious.

Really!

Ok, do I need to pull my knife?…….I didn't think so.

Luckily for me, before Axel could humiliate me and tease me any more, a man with long, sliver hair and a black suit stepped up on stage and took the mike from the podium that had been set up, apparently for his use.

"And there's old Mansex himself." Axel said, rather loudly as the room fell silent. "Settle in cuz this is gonna take a while."

And take a while it did. Principal Xemnas talked and talked for an hour, maybe a little more. I will never know exactly because I fell asleep, my head drifting down to rest on Cloud's shoulder. I was rather surprised when Cloud woke me later. I mean, One, CLOUD had let me use his shoulder as a pillow, and we all know I cling in my sleep, and two, at first every time Principal Xemnas's eyes had drifted in our direction, I had the oddest urge to sit up straight and hang on his every word. But fall asleep I did, and it was one of the best naps I have ever gotten at school. Well fuck me, what do you know?

I yawned sleepily as I watched Roxas trying to wake Axel up (apparently I'm not the only one who cuddles in his sleep) holding up the piece of paper with my classes on it.

"Uhn, do we go to second period now?" I asked, still trying to shake off my grogginess. Cloud nodded as Roxas finally managed to rouse sleeping beauty, taking the paper form me to see what class I had.

"You have Science with Mr. Zexion." He said, handing the paper back to me. "Just follow Roxas and Sora. They're taking it as an AP class." I nodded, not at all liking the thought of science class. It was one of my worst subjects (besides Math). I'm much better at the arts like Music and English. Hehe, who am I kidding? I rock at Music!

Yea, I know, modest guy, ain't I?

"Hey, Dem, wait until you see this one teacher! He can't be more that twenty! Most people can't even tell him apart for the students most of the time!" Axel laughed, reattaching himself to Roxas. I'm beginning to wonder about those two….

"Really?" I said, not to interested. Still, I couldn't help but wonder if this teacher was hot though. Axel nodded and continued to chat, and when he walked up to the same door Roxas, Sora (who had managed to pry himself away form Riku and join us sometime during the conversation) and I were headed for, I assumed he had this "Mr.Zexion" as well. I wondered what kind of person he was. Knowing schools like Destiny, who wanted to keep up their images, he was probably wither some old fat guy, or just old. I winced as Axel twisted the knob to the door rather violently and flung it open with such force it bounced back off the wall. With a sigh, I followed him in.

Thinking back, had I know what would happen form then on , I might not have followed him. Had I known all of the trouble simply setting foot in that room would cause me, I would have turned tail and ran back to Never Was High. And then I think about it, and I'm fucking glad I can't see into the future. After all, that was how I met HIM, and my fucking soap opera of a life started a new season.


	3. the actual chapter 2

Chapter two Holy Fuck, That's the Teacher?!?!

Have you ever heard of love at first sight? Do you believe in it?

Nah, me neither. I didn't then, and I don't now. It's just something that the people who write those sappy romance novels coin to sell more books to love sick teenage boys and girls who probably have love lives that are close to the normal side of things.

Lust at first sight though? Now that I can do.

Hey Mr. Ze!" Axel shouted into the empty room. Well, empty except for the boy sitting behind the desk.

My first thought was "wow! Is he in our class?! He's HOT! In an emo kind of way." my second thought was "Why the fuck is he wearing a suit? Is he one of those pricks who try to become the teacher's pet on the first day or something?" though for some reason that didn't seem to match the kid. There was something about his Aura that said otherwise.

"Who's that?" I asked Roxas as I followed them to the back of the room and took the seat next to Axel. Roxas looked at me oddly and Axel snickered.

"That's Mr. Zexion, Dem!" Soar said, and while I was glad he wasn't shouting like he had been that morning, it was still a little to loud for my tastes, and I blushed as the science teacher looked up and right at me.

Holy shit, he had violet eyes. Well, eye, since his hair was flipped over one of them, hiding it from view. But still, How did I know his eyes color? HE WAS LOOKING ME IN THE DAMN EYES! STARING RIGHT THE FUCK AT ME! I knew my face had resumed its fuchsia color, and maybe had even bypasses it for scarlet. I could hear Axel cracking up again beside me, but I ignored him for the time being. The sexy teacher-and I do mean sexy- and I were having a staring match.

Our little contest probably only lasted a minuet, but it seemed like an eternity to me before he simply looked away form me and back down at his papers. That kind of dismissal stung a little for some reason. Not that I was expecting anything, though. I mean, what was he going to do? Walk up to me and look lovingly into my eyes before kissing me senseless and fucking me on the desk?

Heheh, I decided to store that piece of imagery away for later…..

"Ah. Well, how that hell was I supposed to know that." I muttered, suddenly feeling sullen. I turned to scowl at my desk as other students began filing in.

"You weren't." Roxas said firmly, and I just knew he was glaring at Axel. I glanced over at him. Yup, The Glare of Death was firmly in place. "Most people make that mistake. Mr.Zexion just looks really young, that's all."

I sighed, stealing one last glance up at the boy-no, man- behind the desk. He was staring rather intently at whatever was on the top of the rather large pile he had in front of him. I briefly wondered what it was before shaking my head at myself. Hot or not, the guy was my teacher, so I couldn't make a move on him, which fucking sucked. I had heard of people getting arrested for things like that.

For good measure I poked at my cheek, which was (much to my chagrin) still covered in a good quantity of baby fat.

Pulling out some paper form my bag, along with a pen, I began to doodle absently, creating a stick-and-scribble picture of Godzilla and Optimus Prime duking it out in Manhattan. I was just sketching in a flying saucer in the corner when I became aware of someone standing at my shoulder. Turning my head quickly, I found lavender hair and a violet eye staring at me impassively from about two or three inches form my face. OH MY GOD! Mr. Zexion had been standing there staring over my shoulder as I drew! When the fuck did he get there?!?!?

As surprised as I was, I handled it in a completely mature and adult manner.

………….Alright fine! I screamed and fell out of my chair! Are you happy now?! I mean, he appeared out of thin air! What did you expect me to do?!? And anyway, I can't help it if my scream is a bit girly…..

I wonder if Axel had ever laughed that much in his whole entire life. Really, before the day was out we were going to have to take him to the vets and get him sedated, no fucking joke. And wouldn't you know, it was all at my expense. He's just such a wonderful fucking friend.

As for Mr. Zexion? He just raised an eyebrow, apparently unfazed by my reaction.

And as for me? I was sitting on the floor for the second time that day, and (as Axel so graciously informed me later) my face was red enough to rival a tomato. Damn my pale skin. I always hated the fact that I blushed easily.

Well, anyway, Mr. Zexion looked form me back to the doodle I had been so absorbed in. Roxas was trying to smother Axel, who was having trouble breathing, but that was more of the fact that he was laughing so hard…..And. The. Whole. Fucking. CLASS. Was. Staring. RIGH. AT. ME!

"Interesting." Mr. Zexion said, his voice soft and cold. I shivered despite myself. He glanced over at me again, and I felt a slight annoyance.

Sure, thanks for the hand up. You didn't cause me to burse my ass TO much.

It didn't help much that he was looking at me like I was a piece of dirt he had little to no interest in. Wow, that made me feel good. "Do you always draw during class? Because if so, you and I might have a problem."

I blinked at him.

"Well, no teach, not usually, but class hasn't started yet."

Just as I said that the bell rang. Go figure. I scrambled up and back into my seat while trying to keep some distance between us. I had just decided that he scared the living shit out of me. In a sexy way……did I mention that he was really hot up close? With really smooth, pale skin that just looked really soft and touchable……

"I see…." He said and for a moment I thought I saw something resembling a smile ghost across his face, but then it was gone and I was sure I had imagined it. "you are Demyx, correct?" He asked. I nodded hesitantly. He turned and headed up the rows, beckoning me to follow, but not saying a word more.

Frowning at the back of his head, I stood and followed him to the front of the room, where he stopped and turned to look at me. Nothing else. Well, at least not for a few minuets. Just looked at me. And me? Well, hell, I looked back.

"Please introduce yourself to the class." he said at length, going back around his desk and sitting down. That was when I noticed what it was that he had been staring so intently at: A cross word puzzle.

Turning back to look at the room, I shrugged. Screaming in front of the class and having people stare at me was one thing, but having all of their attention on me for any other less embarrassing reason, and I love it. I'm an attention eater…..

"Hmmm….well, lets see…..My name is Demyx, I like sweet things, I have bitter things, I'm sixteen, nearly seventeen, I'm a Pieces, I love to swim and play musical instruments, especially the sitar….oh, I just transferred here from Never Was High…."

Ok, I may have forgotten to mention this earlier, but Never Was and Destiny are rival schools. And by rival, I mean if you picture the one person who you would stop at nothing to kill, and then picture yourself torturing them fro about eight years or so, that would be about how much these two schools hate each other. Actually, that would be an understatement.

So yea, if friends was what I was looking for at that school, I had just said about the worst possible thing I could have.

Ever.

Everyone in there (besides the three I came in with of course, though they didn't look to happy with me at the moment, though for different reasons than every one else) was looking at me with a three way mixture of hate, wariness and curiosity on their faces. Even Mr. Zexion had an odd look on his face, though it was so mild I couldn't adequately tell what it was.

THAT was when I realized that I really need to start thinking before I speak. But of course, like all good lessons, I needed to be taught it more than once before it finally sunk in.

Though this time since the damage was already done, and I KNEW it, I shut up pretty quickly.

"…..And that's about it, teach." I said hastily, grinning uneasily at Mr. Zexion. He blinked slowly at me, and I could just TELL he was thinking about something by the way his eyes flickered briefly across my face. He was probably memorizing every detail to tell the police the next time something went missing.

Yes officer, he would say, He has dirty blond hair in a really cool mullet-like thing and he's totally hot, with a body like a god!

Yea, and I'll shave my head bald. But hey, a guy can daydream, can't he?

Anyway, after a while, he simply cocked his head to one side slightly and told me to sit back down, which I did, this time fighting off my blush, and doing a pretty good job of it if I do say so myself.

The rest of the day went pretty well, if I do say so myself. I had to introduce myself in all of the rest of my classes, though I managed to avoid mentioning where I was from, though by then it had already spread throughout the school, so mentioning it would have been rather unnecessary.

Anyway, it was still a relief when I finally reached my last class of the day. The one I had been waiting for; the one I had been wiling to not skip class for; Can you guess what it is?

MUSIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I have Music as an elective.

Hey, it's one of my strong points. A guy's got to stick to his strengths, don't you think?

And the thing that made the day really great was that, putting it lightly, the teacher liked me.

To put it adequately, she LOVED me.

Miss Ariel was really impressed. I could tell. She called on me constantly to answer her questions (can you believe they actually gave out tests about different types of music and instruments and famous names in musical history?!) and she was really….enthusiastic when I got them right. And I will say this: A better singing voice, I have not heard..

But what really synched it, was what she said after class as I was about to leave the band hall.

"Demyx, would you mind coming over here a moment?" She called as I was hefting my now doubled-in-weight bag onto my shoulder. I shrugged my free shoulder and walked over to where she was standing.

"Yes?" I asked, trying to ignore the fact that the circulation was already leaving my poor shoulder where my bag strap was digging into it.

"You know a lot about instruments. Did you take music or band at your other school?" She asked and I almost laughed. I skipped school with my gang most of the time at my old school. In fact, it was a wonder I had passed all of the grades that I had. And besides, I would have been teased constantly if I had done anything like that.

No, it was better for my health if I just stuck to the basics.

But of course, I didn't say any of that. Either she didn't know where I was from, which I found unlikely by now, or she just didn't care. Or something else that I had yet to think of.

So I answered instead with a simple "Nope." she cocked her head thoughtfully.

"Well, do you play any instruments?" she asked. I grinned. I had a sitar at home that was my most prized possessions. It had been a gift on my fourteenth birthday form my father, one of the few times he remembered I was alive.

"Hell yea!" I said happily. "I can play the sitar, and the guitar as well. And I can play the violin a bit."

What can I say? Larxene taught me how. And I don't just play a bit. But if you tell ANYONE, I WILL kill you.

Either way, she nodded and handed me a key.

"You can have access to the band hall and the instruments in here any time you want." And then she turned and left.

And me? I just stood there, staring at the tiny, silver key in my hand, with nothing but "Where the fuck did that come from?!" going through my mind.

"Wow, Miss Ariel must really like you." Roxas noted as I showed the key to Axel and he as we were walking across the parking lot, looking for Cloud and Sora some minuets later. "She can be really protective of those instruments, and she really likes music." He cocked his head to one side, regarding me with curiosity.

"Hey, do you still play the steer thingy?" Axel asked and I glared at him.

"Sitar." I corrected. "And yes, I still play, just not as much as I used to." Roxas raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't know you played an instrument?" He said curiously as I spotted Cloud a small distance away trying to subtly tell the silver haired kid-Riku, was it?- that it was time to let Sora go so that he could get into the car. I headed over as I answered him.

"I haven't really felt like it since I moved in." I said. Truthfully, part of the reason I had played so much before was to drowned out my parents yelling at each other or my mothers drunken rants about how my father and I had ruined her life. Now, with Cloud and the twins, it was so quiet in the house that I often felt like I couldn't make even the slightest noise or I would upset the silence so badly it could never be obtained again, and as I have said before, I liked the fact that the house was quiet.

"Hey." Axel said, poking me in the ribs. "Did Larxene ever follow through with that plan to teach you how to play the violin?"

"No." I said quickly, but I could never lie very well, and the truth was probably plastered all over my face like usual, because Axel started laughing his ass off again.

"What's so funny?" Cloud asked. We had reached him and the hyper-active-wonder and his squeeze toy-er-friend.

"Nothing." I muttered, scowling at the red head, who, you guessed it, laughed harder, leaning heavily on Roxas for support.

"oh come on Dem, the violin? Could she have picked a more girly instrument for you to play?!" Axel gasped, wiping a tear from his eyes. A sudden though on how to shut him the fuck up occurred to me.

"Why don't you tell her that to her face?" I suggested. "I'm sure she'll be glad to see you."

It worked like a charm. He choked before looking up at me with something like alarm on his face. Yup, Larx defiantly left a lasting impression, that was for sure.

"Can we go now?" I think we had stalled Cloud long enough and he was starting to get annoyed. Nodding at the irate blond, I climbed into the passenger seat, watching Sora and his "friend" promise to call each other that night about four or five times. Looks like now I knew who had been using up the phone batteries all summer long.

Any way to make the fifteen minuet trip compact enough to fit into about thirty seconds of reading time, (or less, I'm just that good) we all got into the cars that had brought us there that morning, I said a silent prayer for Roxas, and we took off, me successfully holding in my lunch as I once again was privy to witnessing Axels "mad driving skills" as he called them. Huh, mad was right. That poor little old lady.

No, I meant the one on the sidewalk, watering her yard.

Well, anyway, to get right to the point, we pulled up the driveway about two or three minuets after Axel and Roxas to find them standing in the front yard waiting for us, Roxas looking rather grim, Axel looking rather puzzled.

It wasn't until we really looked closely at the two cars parked in Cloud's drive way that we realized the reason. All eyes turned to me as we exited the car. For some reason that insulted me.

"I don't know why they're here!" I snapped. Axel cocked his head to one side, and I wondered how much he had been told of my situation here. Cloud simply blinked at me and turned towards the house and headed up the drive.

"Well," He said over his shoulder "we won't know until we go in and ask."

Shooting me a worried look, Roxas agreed, as did Sora. With a sigh of defeat (because I REALLY did not want to go in there and meet our rather unexpected guests, but I knew Cloud was right) I started to follow them into the house reluctantly. Before I could get more than a few paces, however, a hand grabbed my arm.

It was one of the first times I could ever remember seeing Axel looking worried over someone other than himself.

"Hey, Dem, if things get rough, you know you can always crash at my place, right?" I blinked at him and he looked away, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. "I mean, Roxas kinda told me about….why you're living with him…." well that answered my earlier question "and I have a really bad feeling about this…." He glanced towards my parent's vehicles again. "…so…yea….well, I'm going to go home now." He said, deciding it was time to make his grand escape. I didn't blame him, and I almost decided to take him up on his offer. I hadn't seen my parents since I had moved about a month before, and my mom had been…..incapacitated at the time, and my dad had been away on some business trip, so I ended up leaving with pretty much no one noticing. I was not looking forward to this. Not at all.


	4. the actual chapter 3

Chapter Three

And This is Where My Life is Fucked Up Even More and I End Up Bonding With My Teacher….Sort of

Ok, so you remember everything I said in the Prologue, right?

Ok, good, I was just checking. I don't want to have to re-explain myself.

"SWEETIE!"

To say that I was surprised when my mom, surprisingly sober and neat looking, leaped from the couch and HUGGED me as I entered the living room, would be as much of an understatement as saying the sky was high up, Sora liked coffee, Axel was annoying, and Cloud was stoic.

I was beyond shocked.

I glanced uneasily passed her to my father, watching us closely from the other couch on the other end of the room, seated next to man with long black hair and a navy suit. I wondered if there was some truth to the theory that aliens could take the forms of humans and dispose of the real things, just going on to live in that unfortunate human's place.

It would explain what the fuck was going on.

I noticed a young blond woman seated on the same couch as my mother had been. It didn't take me long to conclude who they were. I watch television too, you know!

The crisp, wrinkleless, starched suits, the brief cases. (if they had sunglasses and those cool little ear phone things, I would peg them for secret service, though why they would be following my PARENTS around was beyond me. So I settled for the next best (or worst, depending) thing: Lawyers. (I watch divorce court sometimes because Sora like it. Why I do not know, but the kid eats the drama up.) Not only that, But I recognized the insignia sewn on to both jackets: The Turks. The best of the best. Not surprising. My dad did make a nice living in his office, though why on earth they were HERE of all places with lawyers was anyone's guess. Surly they weren't planning on, like, suing Cloud or something, were they?

Cuz I mean, come on, that would just be stupid.

"Oh sweetie! I've missed you!" my mom squealed, giving me one final squeeze before letting me go and beaming at me.

Remember when I said that it took me a while to remember that thing about thinking before speaking? Well, this is one of those times that I just prove myself correct.

"You miss throwing beer bottles at me?" I asked incredulously, missing the point, if there even was one. She tensed up and a shadow passed over her face momentarily, but hen she was back to being the sweet, cheerful woman who was completely freaking me out. I did not, however, miss the look my father exchanged with his lawyer, and I'm sure she didn't either, even as she started fussing over my hair of all things.

"May I ask why all of you are here, in my house, quite unexpectedly?" Cloud asked softly. He left the "and uninvited." off, but it kind of hung in the air. My mom looked at him as if just now noticing he was there, which was stupid since it was his house.

"Oh Cloud honey! I want to thank you fro taking care of Dem here. I hope he wasn't to much trouble?" She said sweetly. Cloud simply stared at her.

So did I, for that matter. She made it sound like Cloud had been baby-sitting me while she was at Wal-Mart or something.

The twins were standing in a corner, quiet, for once, and for the most part forgotten as my father's lawyer stood and moved forward.

"Mr. Strife, we apologizing for intruding on you, but we have something to discuss that concerns Mr. Demyx and you." His voice was cold and clipped, with a strange, almost oriental-ish accent to it. His black gaze flickered to the kids in the corner, watching curiously, then back to Cloud. "if you would allow us some of your time? This is rather important."

Cloud nodded and sat slowly in a chair that was positioned across form the TV and between the two couches around the coffee table. I opted to remain standing, even though my mom, suddenly so affectionate after thirteen or so years, tried to tug me over to the couch where she and the yet-to-speak blond were seated. Seeing that I was not coming, she pouted and headed back where she plunked herself down on the couch.

"Perhaps introduction are needed first?" The Asian man asked, though it was less of a question and more of a half hearted attempt to make the conversation more comfortable. Or maybe he was just stalling for time. Either way, I wished he would just hurry it up so that they could get around to telling me what the fuck was going on. The curiosity was seriously eating me the fuck up.

"My name is Tseng. I am one of the head lawyers" (ha, see, I TOLD you they were lawyers!) "form Shinra Inc.'s western branch, the Turkes. I was hired by Mr. Arquiate, just was my associate, Elena, was hired by Mrs. Arquiate, to represent each party in the upcoming divorce." he paused and watched our reactions. None of us really had one. Cloud never really had much of a reaction to anything, and me? Well, I was more surprised to finds out my parents were actually MARRIED then upset about them getting a divorce.

"We have arranged all of the conditions already, the possessions are to be divided equally among the two clients, the house going to mine, the vehicles going to the other. There is simply one last matter to resolve." His cool eyes landed on me, as did every other pair in the room. "Who is going to gain custody of the child?"

I blinked at him, first insulted that I had been referred to as a child like a five year old, and second because it took a while for the meaning of his words to sink in.

"Wait-what?" I asked, surprised.

"I have custody over him. There was a hearing and neither of them-" here he nodded at my parents "-showed up so the court handed him over to me." I nodded, still slightly surprised. I have never been the fastest motorboat in the harbor, and right now my engine was stalling.

"Yes, but we are willing to fight you for it!" my mother said loudly. The blond-Elena, was it?- shushed her, but while she quieted down, she still set at the edge of the couch as if ready to attack Cloud unless he handed me over to her. My father, who had yet to speak, also tensed. I felt a little left out. I mean, It wasn't like I had made an effort to really join the conversation, but no one was exactly asking my fucking opinion, anyway.

And besides, where did they get off coming and trying to drag me back with them NOW, when, as Cloud had said, they hadn't even bothered to come to the hearing to TRY and keep me in the first place. It was only when they were dividing up their possessions for the divorce--

"I'm going through re-hab, so I can be a great mother! I've been completely sober for twenty three days!" My mom exclaimed, giving me a smile that reminded me of the one Larxene had once given a cowering puppy on time when she was trying to coax it out from under her couch so she could throw it out into the rain for peeing on the floor. "And of course," She added, with a bit more enthusiasm, "Harold would have to pay child support, so I could get him whatever he wanted…" My father tensed up even more than before as she gave me that enticing smile again.

Now, honestly, throughout my entire life, I have only been truly angry a few times. In fact, I could probably count the number on both hands. I'm just that kind of person.

Now however, for reasons I still can't really explain, as soon as it hit me what was going on, I was royally fucking PISSED! I mean, I kind of had a right to be. They ignore me for pretty much my entire life, don't even show up when I'm being handed over to a cousin I didn't even know existed until he showed up and loaded my bags into the back of his car and drove me off to his house, and NOW THAT THEY ARE DIVIDING UP THINGS FOR THEIR DIVORCE they suddenly say "oh, and that son we haven't seen or heard from in about a month or so. What should we do with him?"

And then my mom obviously gets the bright idea that she can still get some more money out of my dad by forcing him to pay child support, and dear old dad doesn't want to pay up, so what happens? A fight.

Or maybe I'm being over dramatic, but that's kind of what it looks like to me.

So yea, I had a right to be mad for once, and I'm pretty sure you would be too. Mad, I mean. At least in my own mind.

I could feel my fingers curling into fists, my nails cutting eight little crescents into my palms. What was even worse, was that I LIKED it here. And now they were trying to make me leave?!

Suddenly I found that I really didn't want to be there anymore, with my mother flashing me coaxing smiles and my father not really looking at me at all, and Cloud just sitting there calmly as the lawyer outlined all of the legal things that I didn't understand.

Would Cloud really let them just take me away like that? He did have two little brothers anyway. I supposed that having mew around was just making it harder for him.

And besides, no one was really paying much attention to me. The twins, either board or as lost as I was, had slunk back up the stairs to their rooms.

So I turned on my heal and walked out the door. And slammed it behind me, just for good mesure.

And damn, but didn't that feel fucking good.

I hadn't been walking for long, just staring at my feet and wander aimlessly. School had been out for about an hour, and it was that last thing on my mind, so I was rather surprised when I looked up and-

Yup, you guessed it, I was standing right outside the school.

You guys are good. Either you are a psychic audience, or my case is not very unique.

The first choice sounds more interesting…. You're going to have to show me how to move things with my mind when this is all over and done with. Not right now though. Right now I am talking.

Anyhow, back on subject, I was outside school with no reason to be there, but nowhere else but home to go to.

Given the choices, I think that I would rather have been at school.

That day was forever marked on my calendar as "The-Day-I-Said-Something-That-You-Will-Never-Hear-From-My-Mouth-EVER-Again."

I stuck my hands in my pockets and was about to turn and leave, when something cold brushed my fingers. Frowning, I pulled it out. It was the key to the music room Miss Ariel had given me.

Suddenly, I wanted nothing more than to play some music.

I headed up the front walk to the doors, which, to my surprise, were unlocked. Entering, I didn't look around, assuming that no one would be there that late after school. Besides, the place was as silent as a tomb, and it was kind of creepy, to see a place usually so full of life and noise completely empty save for probably the janitors, but I didn't encounter any of them on my way down the hall.

Reaching the room, I fumbled with the key for a moment before it slipped into the lock and allowed me entrance to my favorite room in the school.

I flicked the lights on and felt infinitely better upon seeing the instruments lined up on the walls, and knowing that there were more in the storage room. There was even a huge piano in the corner.

Wandering around and brooding quietly to myself for a moment, I finally grabbed a guitar form the corner and plunked down on top of one of the desks, strumming the notes gently in hopes of calming my nerves. I briefly contemplated checking Axel's locker to see if he had any cigarettes stashed away in there before disregarding the idea. I had been trying to quite since Cloud and Roxas didn't like the smoke or the smell.

I strummed a few more noted in agitation before casting my mind out for something to play as my hands settled into a regular rhythm. Before I knew it, I found myself strumming the notes of a song I had made up a few years back when I had been marginally depressed. It was a relatively fast, but I had been told by Marluxia that there was something sad about it. Larxene had worked out how to play it on the violin as well, but it just wasn't the same as on a larger string instrument.

As usual, I was soon lost in my own thoughts, strumming and even humming along with the tune I knew by heart by now, so I didn't notice the person standing in the doorway watching me until I happened to glance up absentmindedly.

Mr. Zexion raised an eyebrow as I screamed and fell off the desk in fount of him for the second time that day.

"Stop DOINING that!" I snapped, sitting up and checking the instrument over for damage before glaring at him. He simply sighed and walked over, offering me a hand up. I just stared at it like a dummy for a few moments, surprised, before taking it and allowing him to pull me to my feet.

His hands were cool and smooth. Soft too. I wondered vaguely if he used lotion.

"It was nice." he said after a moment, finally letting go of my hand, which he had held just a second to long, though if this meant something, I was not sure. I was to busy trying to figure out what he was talking about.

"Huh?"

Yea, I am the master of eloquence.

He simply gave me a flat look and pointed to the instrument in my hand.

Oh, that.

"Oh, that." I said, rubbing the back of my head and grinning at him. I got the same flat look.

"uh, yea, Miss Ariel gave me the key to this room. I was hehe, you know." I held up the instrument unnecessarily. His eyes flickered briefly to the guitar before returning to my face.

"Playing?" he supplied after a moment.

I half glared at him, but said "Yea, that word." I was rather surprised when one side of his lips quirked slightly into what might have been a brief smile.

"It was very sad." he regarded me curiously, his question implied, though I didn't catch it at the time.

"Yea, it's one I made up…." I said slowly. This was the longest conversation I had had with the man that day, though that wasn't really saying much "I'm better at this kind of stuff the anything like math or…" I paused for a moment. "…Science." I finished. His lips quirked briefly again.

"You mean anything that requires thinking?" he said, his face almost completely strait. I gave him a mock offended look.

"I will have you know that this takes a lot of brain power." I said, waving the piece of wood and strings in his face. He snorted. I stuck out my tongue, a little surprised that I was bantering with one of my teachers like this. Especially the one that seemed to have about as much emotion as a rock. The bastard smirked at me, not answering.

"Fine," I said, thrusting it at him again "you try it." He shook his head and I grinned at him. Then he stepped around me, heading for the piano in the corner. I watched him curiously as he picked up a sheet of music and studied it for a second. Then he began to play.

And he was GOOD.

And I was SURPRISED.

He was playing a piece that I had heard before. Beethoven, or something.

A science teacher who could play the piano like THAT? Well color me fucking impressed.

"Ok, I give." I said when he finished and turned a smirk on me. I held up my hands in defeat.

"You give up like that?" He asked, cocking his head to one side. "No fight? That's no fun." I couldn't resist.

"Oh, you like 'um feisty?" I teased, and I reveled in the fact that he actually blushed. He turned away from me quickly to hide it, but it was there. Encouraged, I waltzed over and plunked my ass down on the bench next to him, leaning in against his chest as he turned to look at me in surprise. I plucked out a few random keys on the piano.

"Oh, teach, show me how to play like that. What you do with your fingers. I'll make sure to sing really pretty for you. Nice and loud to!" I batted my eyelashes for emphasis.

Hey! I was a teenager and had a dirty mind. He seemed to have some kind of pole up his rather uptight ass. At the time, I wanted nothing more than to make him as uncomfortable as I could. And boy, did he looked uncomfortable. His pale face was taking on a bright pink tinge. It was funny, but it looked like he was taking me seriously.

"I'm kidding." I laughed as I sat back up straight, and for a moment I believed that he looked almost disappointed. "You don't have to look like your about to have a heart attack. You just…" I trialed off for a second. "…hmm…. Well, I can't really say much since I only just met you today. But you don't seem like a person who takes chances or has fun often. At least that was my first impression." I shrugged. He coughed, still sounding uncomfortable. His cheeks are still tinged pink, and I can tell he is trying to re-collect his pride over getting flustered so easily.

"First impressions can be misleading." he grumbled. I grinned at him. Then came a rather uncomfortable silence.

"Hey, I'm sorry if I offended you." I said after a moment of the rather uncomfortable silence. That is one kind of silence I have never been able to stand. The uncomfortable kind. They make me antsy. So I strummed a few notes on the guitar I still held, settling back into a tune. This time it was "Wake Me Up" from Evanescence. (if I hear a tune more that once or twice, I can play it. It's one of my many gifts, besides being unbelievably sexy.)

"You didn't." he answered in his usual calm, controlled , nearly emotionless voice. "I simply was not expecting you to start flirting with me." he muttered this part more under his breath. I laughed and he glared at me. I ignored said glare. Cloud and Roxas glared a lot. I was immune.

"But why not? It's not like I COULD have been serious. I mean, you are my teacher. I wouldn't want you to get fired or anything, no matter how many kids say you're a prick in the class room." He snorted at that a little. "And anyway, your hot! Why wouldn't someone flirt with you?" I was halfway teasing him again, but the other half was serious. The look on his face was once again fucking priceless. Oh the woes of not having a camera when I really needed one. He opened his mouth to say something, but I was having fun with my current devious streak. I strummed a few cords on the guitar, interrupting him before he cold even get a word out, and began singing at the top of my lungs, not really sure where I had gotten the idea for the new nickname with which he found himself stuck from that moment on, but having fun with the idea anyway.

"OH ZEXY, HE'S SO SEXY!!!!!!" I screamed for the whole empty building to hear, not even bothering to try and actually sing. I just wanted to be loud. And to embarrass him, which apparently I did a very good job of, because his face went scarlet and the next thing I knew he was trying to put his hand over my mouth, muttering something about the janitors and if I was going to make fun of him to at least do it quietly.

I simply squirmed away form him, and laughing all the while, proceeded to 'sing' louder. Then he resorted to drastic measures, beating me with the nearest thing to hand (which was a rolled up magazine. I don't know what I would have done if he had reached a little farther to the left and grabbed a microphone or one of the many recorder-flute-things lying scattered about the room.)

Laughing, I jumped up and danced away from him, still screeching at the top of my lungs "SEXY ZEXY!!!!" And a few other words I was just throwing in for effect. Needless to say, my poor embarrassed teacher and his Magazine Roll of DEATH followed me. He actually chased me around the fucking room. It made me wonder how old he really was. I mean, he looked seventeen, Roxas has said he was about twenty, and he was acting my age. Or younger. Not that I was complaining. Any anger I had been harboring up until that point had disappeared compleatly.

I swear he was having more fun than I was with this though, which is saying a lot, cuz I was having a fucking blast.

Well, until he realized what he was doing, but by that time he had pretty much pinned me to the wall.

No fucking joke.

I couldn't play the guitar anymore because when he had caught me he had made sure I was immobile by pinning my wrists to the wall behind me.

For such a scrawny dude, he was fucking strong. I figured he must work out (and found out later that he in fact carried a crap load of very heavy books with him constantly). I toyed momentarily with the idea of continuing my impromptu song, just to see how he would shut me up with both of his hands out of commission.

Heheh, I was REALLY tempted to try it, especially since he was already breathing rather hard form chasing me. I could feel it on my cheeks.

You know what else? The bastard has a good inch or so on me.

Yea, yea, I know, he's older, but still….

But back to the singing idea, I highly doubted he would shut me up the way I was kind of HOPEING he would, but I'm an optimist, so I decided to try it out any way. I didn't shout this time. I simply offered him one of my cheekiest grins and proceeded to hum the tune a bit more before singing softly, though at the approximation we had found ourselves in, I knew he would hear me.

"Mr. Zexy is soooo sexy,  
And all his students want to screw him.  
But he's kinda uptight,  
And he puts up a fight,  
And every ones mad cuz he won't dooooo them!"

He growled at me. I laughed at him. Then he pulled away, and this time I kind of wilted a bit under his gaze. THIS TIME I had offended him.

Oh what am I saying? The look he gave me made me want to piss my fucking pant, tuck my tail firmly between my fucking legs and run back to the rock I had fucking crawled out from under.

No fair. And a moment ago, he had been acting kind of cool.

"I realize that that was all a joke, Mr. Demyx." He said in the same voice he used when he had sent one of the kids in my science class to the principal after giving him detention that morning. "But I would like it if you would not imply I have or could have any sort of sexual relationship with a student. It would be both below me and unprofessional."

Ouch…..

I rubbed he back of my head, feeling my smile slip a bit.

"Well, yea, I WAS just kidding after all." I said slowly. For some reason I felt like I was lying. Probably because I had been having dirty thought about him most of science class. "And besides…" I continued indignantly "I was saying that you WOULDN'T do them." I half glared back at him, but he ignored that. Grrr…fine be that way, see if I care.

Bitch.

He simply turned on his heel and headed for the door. Huffing to myself, my good mood ruined for the most part, I set the guitar back in it's proper place and followed him out the door, locking it back up behind me as I did so. I was surprised to see that it had already grown dark.

"Do you know your way home?"

I jumped at the quiet voice. Mr. Zexion was standing beside me, where I had been staring up at the stars for the past few minuets.

I was surprising really, how many stars you could see here on this little island. Back on the main land, you couldn't see jack shit. To many lights.

"uh….yea." I answered awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot with nervous energy. He simply nodded to me, heading in the opposite direction with a "see you in class tomorrow." Before he was swallowed up by the darkness. Sighing, I shoved my hands in my pockets and headed back home.

Home. Where I didn't want to leave.

I was surprised to find that I had actually forgotten all about my current home problems. Heh, usually music just makes it better.

Zexy made me forget, at least for a little while.

I smiled. That was a nice change.

As I headed to the house, I found myself whistling the tune of my new favorite song, even singing snatches of it under my breath.

"Hey Zexy……you're so sexy"

Me: ehh….I think I made Zexion really OOC in this chapter…..and Demyx too….sorry about that…..I didn't mean to. I blame that and my grammar and spelling errors on both the fact that this is un-betaed and the fact that I have contracted a very annoying head cold and have to take medicine (which we all know what THAT can do to a person)…..I am sorry….

Feed back and constructive criticism is welcomed with open arms….and even unconstructive I suppose, so long as it is your honest opinion and your not just trying to be funny. 


	5. the actual chapter 4

Chapter Four When Life Gives You Lemons…Make Grape Juice

Ok, I think I scared Cloud and the twins when I walked through the door that nigh, whistling and singing a tune that, to them, was complete and utter nonsense. They gave me some very weird looks, either way.

But what can I say? I was in a rather good mood.

The next morning I actually woke up early.

No, I'm serious! Though Sora's cell phone (which was turned ALL THE WAY UP) actually had more to do with it than anything. Who the hell calls at 7:15 in the morning anyway?!?! They should be shot.

"RIKU!!! HI!!!!"

Oh, that's who. Ok, that was it, Sora's little boy toy was going down.

Rolling over, but still able to hear my cousin's insistent chattering, I groaned and decided that getting up early (well, on time actually, but who's paying that much attention?) just that once was not going to kill me.

At least I hoped it wouldn't.

I shuffled out of bed, going through my morning ritual of finding the clothes that smelled the best and putting them on before bathing myself in Axe Body Spray (What can I say? I love the smell of that shit) and wandering downstairs where I could smell pancakes.

Sure enough, Roxas was at the stove, flipping flapjacks like there was no tomorrow. Cloud was sitting at the head of the table, reading the newspaper like he always did (or at least like I assumed he always did. My normal wake up time, if you will remember, is as late as possible.) and sitting right beside him was….

Axel. And he was staring at Roxas's ass. I decided to ignore that.

Though I can't say I was surprised.

Meh, whatever, as long as he didn't hurt the kid and I got my pancakes, I was fine with it.

"Look who's up on time for once! It's sleeping beauty! And here I was about to hand Sora a cup of coffee and ask him to go get you!"

Then again, maiming him wouldn't be all that bad, would it?

"Hmmm….Sora is going to see Riku in an hour or so. What has he got to talk to him on the phone for anyway?" I grumbled, plopping down at the table across form Axel. Cloud was ignoring everyone behind his paper still. Roxas laughed as he put a plate of Pancakes down in front of Axel, who flashed one of his "I'm-so-charming-you-can't-resist-me" grins. It was what he used to use to get out of trouble with Larxene. Not that it ever worked with her.

Roxas opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by pounding footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Morning!" Sora sang as he leaped, yea, leaped , into the room from the middle landing the stairs where they turned form the wall and headed into the kitchen. Then he stopped and stared at me.

"Hey Dem. You're up on time!" I rolled m eyes.

"Is it really that much of a surprise?" I asked as he came over to sit in the chair to my right.

"Yes."

Well, gee, all four of them didn't have to say it at the same time like it was some kind of fucking fact. Even Cloud joined in.

And I stick my tongue out at you, sir!

"It's all you phone's fault anyway, Sora." I grumble not-quite-under-my-breath, stifling a yawn as Roxas finally forked over some pancakes for Sora and I before getting some for himself. Small the kid may be, but he could make a professional chef cry in amazement with his cooking before the poor idiot bowed down to kiss the kid's feet.

Yea, he's that good. It's no wonder Axel was over for breakfast, though I have the feeling he would have showed up if Roxas cooked like Sora and Cloud. (Trust me, if Sora or Cloud cooked, the chef would be crying for a different reason.)

Roxas and I are the only ones in the house who can cook anything and keep it edible. He does breakfast since I am usually still asleep, and I cook dinner, since years of taking care of myself has helped me perfect my culinary skills.

Which reminded me….

"Hey, Roxas, I'm sorry for storming out and forgetting about dinner last night." I said apologetically, poking at my food. I'm not normally a big breakfast kind of person, since I am usually in to much of a hurry to do more than stuff a piece pf toast in my mouth on my way out the door, but his smelled really damn good, and it was making my mouth water. After a second I decided "fuck it if I make myself sick, I'll just get to come home" and took a huge bit of it. As per usual, it was delicious.

"It's ok…." Roxas said slowly. I became aware that everyone in the room was staring at me. Even Cloud was peeking over the top of his paper. I swallowed my mouthful of pancake and stared right back at them.

"Look, I was just a little upset, that's all." I said, shrugging. "I'm fine now, everything is fine, and everything will continue to be fine."

Yea, I didn't believe the shit I was spewing anymore than they did, but I just wanted them to stop looking at me like I was about to have an emotional breakdown or something. In fact, Cloud looked like he was about to say something when Sora abruptly changed the subject, asking Axel if he had gotten any homework the day before and complaining about how some teachers couldn't just wait a week or two before piling it on. Axle took his queue, and I shot both of them a grateful look. Sometimes Cloud could be to damn blunt for his own good, and it could sometimes cause more harm then good. That, AND he could be damn fucking persistent when he wanted to be.

Sora, just for that I will not kill your boy toy…..today.

Several minuets and one small detour later (I had had to stop for a moment when I spotted Sora going for a cup of coffee) we were out the door and headed for out respective rides. I decided that since I had food in my stomach that morning I was not going to watch Axel drive ahead of us this time. I didn't think that Cloud would appreciate it if I puked all over his car. Ion fact, I didn't think Sora would appreciate it if I puked all over him(we both rode in the back. Cloud got jumpy if someone rode shotgun, and tended to keep his eyes on them more than the road).

And then of course, there was school. Thanks to Sora, we ended up arriving a bit earlier than we had the day before, so we all just kind of…..stood out in front of the building. 

I was still getting hostile looks from the majority of the student body.

Heheh, lookit me mommy, I'm making friends! Yay!

Hn, not that she would care…..

Ok, I'm off tangent.

Again.

Anyway, Roxas and Sora wandered off to their little group of friends, Axel tagging along behind, and Cloud wandered over to where his friends, a group of two other boys who greeted him with vague head nods and two girls who promptly glomped him while another stood by and giggled.

And I was left standing uncomfortable and alone. I would have followed the twins and Axel, of course, had one of the blonds in the group to been giving me death glares.

Now I'm not a person to care to highly what other people think about me really, but I didn't want to cause Roxas and Sora any trouble, so I decided to steer clear of them until I was either invited over or the blond left. And I was not about to go anywhere near Clouds group of friends because honestly….they all scared the crap outta me.

The two guys, Leon and Vincent, had been over once or twice over the summer, and all they really did was like, sit. I think they can communicate through mind reading or whatever, but I'm not going to test that theory out.

In fact, I made sure to wear a tin foil helmet when they were around, just in case. Maybe I should have made some for the twins as well?

Either way, it wasn't like I cared. They were quiet and, as much as they creeped me the hell out, it wasn't like they actually bothered me or anything.

Then there were the girls. Yuffie, who I have already mentioned, Aries, who I have no problem with, though I suspect hat there is more to her then meets the eye…..(you know, like a transformer or something. I mean, no one our age is THAT innocent), and Tiffa, who seems more like a mother or sister figure to Cloud, though I think she really wants to get into his pants, but is to nice for her own good….or something. But with the amount of glomping she and Yuffie do, and some of their squealing, I avoid all of them like the proverbial plague I see them as.

'Nuff said. Looking back at the twins and their group of friends who I had no idea who they even were, I saw that I was forgotten. Not that I blamed them. They probably didn't really get to see a lot of each other the day before since they actually spent a lot of time showing me around.

So I was just…..standing there. And feeling very out of place.

Like, have you ever just….walked into a room and everyone in it goes quiet and just LOOKS at you? It was sort of like that, only it was more of a lack of looking that was bothering me. People were now avoiding making eye contact with any part of my body….or were at least trying to look like they were.

Honestly, I knew our schools hated each other, but I didn't know it was THAT fucking bad.

So I stood there and sighed, casting my eyes about the grounds for something to do to make myself feel like less of an idiot for just STANDING there.

Tree, Tree, more kids…hey, was that kid smoking a joint? (That's what it looked like)…… Was that even allowed here….I'm sure THAT was illegal in some way…..eww gross…..dog, fire hydrant, I'm not looking that way again, statue, another tree, parking lot, car, car, car, car, car, …hmmm car, car, car, an obscene amount of cars…..

OH MY GOD! LOOK!!!!! It's another car.

Car, car, car (man, everyone at that school probably owned their own car. How did the busses even keep in business?) car, car, tree (oh, scenery change) car car car….

Mr. Zexion getting out of a car with a shit load of books, another car, some more trees….oh, a bird……

Hang on.

My eyes slid back to where my favorite science teacher was half sliding, half slipping from the inside of his own (you guessed it) car. Heh, even on this tiny island, there were more cars then sand, I think.

Anyway, the books were HUGE. I was willing to bet Clouds sexuality that they were textbooks too, since we had used the old ones the day before.

I watched him struggling a bit to keep a hold on the ginormouse stack of new and laminated, therefore slippery books, expecting one or two of the nearby students to rush forward and give him a hand before he fell on his face.

No one did. In fact, I would be surprised if anyone even noticed him there at all. Or if they did, they did a pretty good job of pretending they didn't.

Wow, that was cold. I mean, I knew that he was not exactly one of the most liked teachers in the school, since he tended to be much more strict then the other teachers, and he, as I have said, acted like he had something resembling a very long pole shoved up his ass, but that did not mean they should ignore him when he needed help.

Holy shit, listen to me. I sound all righteous and shit.

Really, I just wanted something to do, and he looked like he was about to drop something. Not that I cared about the books, but still….

SO I marched right up to him, and in my most cheerful morning voice, which, for a non morning person is pretty damn cheerful, I said, "Morning Zexy. Need some help?"

Now, I had expected him to hear me coming, but apparently he had been to absorbed in the books to hear me.

Not that he reacted the same way I usually did, (a.k.a. scream and fall off of whatever I happened to be perched on at the time) but he did jerk his head up to look at me fast enough to give any normal person whiplash.

And then he fucking glared at me. Heh, Apparently he didn't appreciate me using his new nickname at school. Or he was still insulted by the song that had accompanied it. Or both. Not that I blame him.

Had Axel heard it, he would NEVER live it down. The redhead would torture him with it until his graduation day and then some.

Either way, I ignored the glare and went to take some of the books anyway. He jerked away and nearly lost his balance. I reached out to catch him, but he regained his balance himself and upped the level on his glare.

I continued to ignore him, instead holding our my hand for the books. We stared at each other for a few moments before he got the message that I was not going to back off. With a sigh and what sounded suspiciously like a muttered curse, he relinquished a little under half of the books he was carrying.

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT! WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE FUCKING THINGS MADE OF?!?"

Yea, the books were heavy. I nearly dropped them right then and there, and I was carrying less than half. How the hell had he managed to get out of the car?! No wonder he was able to pin me to the wall so easily the night before….

Heh, that sounded dirty. The smirk he was giving me wasn't helping much either.

I hefted the books, getting used to their weight and not looking forward to owning one, and nodded to him.

"Where to teach?"

He turned and headed across the parking lot to the building.

"This way."

About five minuets and a few muffled and not-so-muffled curses later I dropped the books unceremoniously and with much disgust onto the floor by his desk.

"What the fuck were they doing making you carry these things all the way form your house?" I demanded as I collapsed into a nearby desk, letting my head loll backwards over the seat. I wasn't really interested in the answer, but you remember those uncomfortable silences I said I hate? Well, we had a pretty nice one going as I think he waited for me to leave. (I wasn't going anywhere until I got the feeling back in my arms, though, damnit!

"………..I asked that hey be shipped to my house instead of the school since two years ago we went through half they year with the wrong books." I lifted my head long enough to give him a quizzical look. And they hadn't sent them back and switched them why?

"We got them a week into the school year. The delivery to the school was slow since the company was delivering to all of the other schools on the mainland as well. We couldn't change them since we needed the books. It would have taken to long. So now I just have them shipped to my house. It's cheaper and it takes less time. Plus, I can make sure they are the right ones before I bring them here."

Hmmm…..a longer explanation then I had expected, but at least it had gotten him talking, if only for a little while. And then the silence was back, though a little more comfortable.

Not much, mind you, but it was an improvement.

So we just sortta……sat there. Or stood, in his case. He was standing behind his desk staring at the wall. Why I do not know. Must be one fucking interesting wall, I figured.

It took me a second to realize that I had figured that out loud. I kinda realized it though when he turned his head sharply to look at me. I was expecting another damn glare or something. Instead, to my surprise, he actually smirked at me.

"You are not much of a morning person, are you, Mr. Demyx?" he asked. I laughed a bit.

"What was your first fucking clue." I'm just a bit cranky when I don't get my usual twelve or thirteen hours of sleep, and this guy seemed to personify uncomfortable silence, which made me a bit antsy.

"Language." He admonished, though he didn't really sound like he cared. He fingered a thermos that he had had stashed away in a bag that I didn't realize was over his shoulder until he set it down to take the cup out. After a second he held it out to me.

"Coffee?" He asked. I smiled a bit at the sudden rather thoughtful offer, but waved it away.

"No thanks. That stuff makes me sick to my stomach. Besides, when I do drink it, I put more cream and sugar in it then coffee. I don't want to get fat." I half joked. Honestly, I really didn't want to gain much weight. I'm a little vain about that, I'll admit. He, on the other hand, seemed to find it funny as he raised an eyebrow at me, retracting the thermos before setting it on his desk and walking out of the room.

Left alone, I sighed and leaned back in the chair again. I closed my eyes and tried to figure that out. Had I offended him again, to make him leave so abruptly? Did he not like me knocking coffee or something? Not that I cared, but it's not like I wanted extra homework or anything.

I didn't even hear him coming back into the room until something clunked down into the desk. I jumped again, but this time I didn't scream. Or fall out of the chair. Insert mental back pat.

Instead I sat up and stared in puzzlement at the Coke sitting on my desk.

"You like these, right?"

I looked up at him, surprised. They were actually my favorite. I nodded. He headed back for his desk and began shuffling papers around. I looked back at the Coke.

"I though we weren't supposed to have theses in the building." I said suspiciously. I'm pretty sure Mansex….er…Mr. Xemnas has said sometime before my nap that if we were caught with bottled drinks in the building, they were to be confiscated and thrown away, or something. He glanced up, and looked like he was debating something.

"I don't want to see you drinking that in the back of my class." He said slowly. I blinked at him. Ok, that was damn weired. First he gives this to me, and then he tells me not to drink it in his class. I mean, like he said, I sit at the back of his class. He couldn't really see me…all….the way…up….oh.

I grinned at him as realization sunk in. Grabbing the caffeinated drink, I stood and walked over to the door (the clock behind him said the bell was going to ring any minuet), pausing when I stood next to him by his desk.

"Sure thing! And thanks, Zexy!" I said. He kind of scowled at me.

"Don't call me that. It's not appropriate." He protested. I raised an eyebrow. Time to play tease the teacher again, while he was still being cool.

"Not appropriate?" I asked. "Is that your only objection to it?" He opened his mouth to say something. Grinning, I reached up and laid a finger across his lips. I think it was surprise more than the actual meaning of the gesture that made him stop whatever he was about to say, though.

Deciding to push my luck, I winked at him, taking my finger away as his jaw tightened and turning for the door just as the bell rang.

"Don't worry Zexy." I said over my shoulder as I walked out of the room. "I'll only call you that when we're alone."

And with that I headed to my first period class, History, in a much better mood then I had started with.

And I didn't get caught with the Coke either. 


	6. the actual chapter 5

Chapter 5

Axel Swears He Didn't Know That His Brother Was Fucking My Dad's Lawyer and I Have Fun at the Mall

So a week passed. Yea, I know, time skips can be annoying, but what can I say? If you want to know what happened that week, I could tell you but it would just be a whole bunch of junk. Nothing really pertaining to the story anyway. The most exciting thing that happened was I got introduced to Roxas and Sora's little group. The blond that had been glaring at me was Hayner, but I was promptly told to ignore him. I think the conversation went something like this when I got home that day. (it was like, Wednesday, or something.

Sora: Why don't you come hang out with us in the mornings?

Me: Uh, cuz that little blond dude always standing near Roxas kept giving me dirty looks.

Roxas: Hayner? Why would he do that?

Axel: Cuz he's a prick. Ignore him.

Roxas: Axel! He's not that bad! Insert mighty mini blond glare here

Axel: cowers

So yea, that was it. Oh, I also found out that Zexy ALWAYS got there really early. I'm not sure why, but apparently the reason he had arrived AFTER us that Tuesday was because it had taken him a while getting those books from hell into his car. I am of the opinion that he took some kind of sadistic pleasure handing those books out to us, anyway. Out of all of the books I got that week, that one was by far the heaviest. People need to stop making scientific discoveries, that's what I think. Not only are they coming out with stuff that could potentially hurt the earth, but they make us carry it around and do homework on it. Now, I mean, come on, you can not tell me that that is fair!

Anyway, my week passed rather uneventfully.

Wait! No! There was that one incident! The one that I almost forgot just now, but is really really important for later, even if it doesn't seem like it!

Ok, my fourth period class of the day is English with this big guy named Xaldin. You know, Big, football player looking dude with black shaggy hair and the weirdest cut facial hair you have ever seen. That dude. Anyway, he's everyone's favorite teacher. Nice guy, really. A little gruff and kinda strict, but a good guy.

What won me over about him was that that first day, when everyone was giving me these really dirty looks, when I walked in he said "Oh, you must be the student from Never Was, right? Nice to meet you! I'm afraid you'll have to excuse us here at Destiny. We tend to be a little stuck up."

In case the joke was lost on you, I might add that this was said with a pointed glare at all of the people in the room that were glaring at ME. It was lame, I know, but it was a mark of how respected he was that the temperature rose above freezing in that room after that.

I have to say that English was now my second favorite class (my first favorite being music, of course). Mr. Xaldin was cool. He was the type of teacher who was hands on and not stand-up-in-frount-of-the-room-and-bore-you-out-of-youre-mind-with-a-lectuse-before-giving-you-a-test kind of person. Like, for example, oh, say, Zexy.

So yea, I had designated him a cool guy. In fact, he held me after class and told me that if anyone was giving me a hard time, to let him know and he would deal with it. He said he was looking forward to seeing more of me in and out of school. It was the first time a teacher had ever said something like that to me.

Then the weekend came.

The first dark cloud was the fact that my parents decided to have another meeting in Cloud's living room to discuss when the hearing for custody over me would be. I decided not to storm out this time.

And so we sat while Tseng outlined everything with the help of Elena. The technical chitchat that I couldn't understand, I expected. The long, awkward silences, I expected. The unsure pauses and odd glances, I expected.

But I sure as hell didn't expect Axel to follow Roxas into the living room, take one look at Tseng and yell

"HOLY FUCK! YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!" before nearly collapsing in laughter and hastily retreating from the house.

THAT was about the time I decided to leave. Especially when Tseng looked up at Axel with something like recognition in his eyes.

"Axel!" I yelled as the twins, just as puzzled as I was, and I caught up with the still giggling redhead. He turned to look at me and immediately dissolved in peals of laughter again.

"You-you! Ah!" He gasped, trying to regain his breath enough to tell us what was so damn funny. I waited patently with Sora while Roxas's patience grew thin.

"Well?!" He finally snapped. Axel took a deep breath of air and started in an amused tone of voice.

"That guy, his name is Tseng, right, leader of the Turks?" He asked. I nodded, not really seeing the point. He just snickered a bit more.

"Ah, well, see, that's my brother's boss." He said offhandedly. I blinked.

"Reno's a lawyer?"

I was honestly surprised by that. Not that Reno wasn't a great guy, he really was. I remember how cool he was when the five of us used to go over to Axels house after school sometimes. He was just…..really laid back and pretty disorganized. The exact opposite of what a lawyer should be.

But Axel just nodded.

"Yup, but that's not why I was laughing." Here he paused for dramatic effect. Or he was just waiting for us to ask why. Roxas stepped on his foot impatiently.

"Ouch! Fuck! Ok,ok, fine! Well, that Tseng guy's Reno's boss right? Well, a couple of weeks ago I came home form work early (Axel worked at the Movies, and had worked almost all summer. It was why I hadn't known he lived in the area until the first day of school) and caught the two of them fucking in Reno's room." (a/n I love that pairing and I couldn't resist putting them in here. There aren't nearly enough of them)

And that was the second thing of the day that I was not expecting.

"Sooooo….."I said after a moment of near silence in which Axel had gone back to snickering into his hand. "Your brother is fucking my dad's lawyer?"

Can you say "oh the irony of it all?" I sure can.

Five times fast.

Axel nodded before his face turned serious.

"Look, I love to annoy my brother, and all, but you can't tell anyone about this. They could both lose their jobs if their boss found out about this. I promised not to tell, and you guys sure as hell can't either. My brother loves his job, and from what he has told me, Tseng is all about work. Tseng's been really good to Reno and I think my brother is head over heals for the prick, and I don't want to come between them, ok?"

Well, shit man, who did you think we were going to tell?

"Don't worry!" I said with a huge grin "your brother's secret is safe with me!" Axel laughed. Roxas and Sora looked like they would rather not have known.

Anyway, that was my Saturday morning. The "adults" finally finished their little negotiation and the hearing was set for that Wdenesday.

Yay.

Now I am going to skip ahead in my narration a couple of hours. Nothing important enough happened until about four that afternoon. That's when I got The Phone Call.

"Demyx! Where the hell have you been?!? You haven't called since you got shipped away! Fuck, even a letter would have been nice, you fucking asshole! Get your sorry excuse of a ass down to the fucking mall in an hour. We'll be at the food court. If you're late, you're dead, you little shit."

And then there was a dial tone.

That's Larxene for you. Short and sweet and to the fucking point.

Heh, guess I pissed her off, huh? I'm good at that.

So, as not to incur the wrath of the one nick named the Savage Nymph any further (cuz damn, could she be savage) I immediately headed for the mainland, paying the small fee for the ferry ride, and headed for the mall.

As promised they were in the food court.

"Demyx, as retribution for not making ANY kind of contact with us at all when you were hauled off to that little island, you are going to take me shopping."

Trust me, that is a worse punishment then it sounds. If any of you guys out there have ever been shopping with a girl you know what I mean. And Larx in a Sadist to boot. Even Marluxia was giving me a look of pity, and he loves shopping as much as the next girl.

And so, for two hours I was dragged around the mall, often being asked (coughforcedcough) to pay for pretty shiny girly things (which in Larx's case, ended up being a handful of those nifty looking little throwing knife thingies) and, of course, a very late lunch. Luckily McDonalds has the 99 cent menu. Yay for greasy cardiac arrest inducing cheap stuff!

Anyway, we stopped for lunch and I was just sitting there in the food court looking at the window across the aisle (Starbucks), not really seeing what I was looking at, more lost in my own thoughts then anything else. Well, until I actually realized what I was staring at through that window….well, actually, more like who…

Heh, bet you can guess…..

"I'll be right back, guys." I muttered, jumping out of my seat and rushing into the coffee shop. Well, Rushing across the aisle, anyway. I slowed down when I got to the door, only just then catching site of what I figured was the tests Zexy had given us the Friday before littered across the table.

I mean, A test on the first week of school? This guy has GOT to be a sadist.

And considering we weren't in school at the moment, I was rather afraid that he would prove me correct if I interrupted him. He looked like he was really concentrating on those things.

So I decided to watch him for a moment. Going up to the counter I ordered some Chai Vanilla tea thingy that has no coffee in it and is actually pretty good.

While I waited by the counter for my order, I watched my science teacher. If I had thought him hot before, he was absolutely orgasm inducing now. He was sitting there with his usual frown on his face, but every once in a while he would wrinkle his nose or stick his tongue out slightly between his teeth if he was having trouble reading something. (how do I know this was the cause? He would lean forward to and screw his face up a little, and squint. One time he leaned so close his nose almost touched the paper. I decided right then and there that that was why he never graded any of our papers a t school.)

And to make it better, he wasn't dressed like he usually did at school, in those sexy yet very stuffy suits. He was wearing a regular black t-shirt with a Slipknot emblem on the front and black jeans that fit him surprisingly well (I hadn't really noticed before how slender he was) a silver chain connecting what I assumed to be his wallet to his belt loop, complete with black converse shoes and wrist bands. Plain, and yet he pulled it off so well.

He could have passed off as a student if he just came to school like that. The only way anyone would recognize him was his hair. After grabbing my order with a quick thanks, I headed over to where he was sitting, absorbed in his paper work and still making cute facial expressions., trying to think of some way to start a conversation with him. The only thing that came to mind (and I totally blame this on his clothes) was completely lame and over used. But since when has that stopped me before?

"Cheer up, Emo kid!" I chirped happily as I dragged the empty chair in front of him out and plopped down in it sideways. I swear I have the uncanny ability to sneak up on that guy. That, and that one of these days he really is going to get whiplash form looking up so fast. As it was, I could have sworn I heard his neck pop.

"Demyx!" He yelped, his eyes going wide.

"I hope so!" I said happily "otherwise, I just might have to worry."

Heh, I am so lame.

He stared at me a moment more before his eye narrowed.

"Why do I always seem to run into you?" he asked, sounding kind of disgruntled. I just grinned at him and shrugged.

"Just lucky I guess!"

He groaned, rolling his eyes. I cast a critical eye over the stacks of papers he had in fount of him. Yup, those were defiantly those evil little test he had given us.

"Ya know, Sexy Zexy…." I said, going with that thought and ignoring his growl at the nick name. "That was fucking sadistic, giving us a test on Friday." He glared at me.

"Well, I had to know how much everyone already knew so that I could plan out my lessons for the upcoming weeks. I'm actually a little disappointed……WHAT?"

I must have been looking at him weird. I know it FELT weird, sitting in a coffee shop, talking to my teacher who LOOKED like he could be in high school, and DRESSED like he could be in high school, having a conversation with him about a test he had given us. If that isn't enough to throw you through a loop, you're a better man/woman than I.

I could just feel a smirk settling on my face.

"Dude, did you look in the mirror this morning…You don't even look like a teacher…"

"I am your teacher." He huffed. I felt my smirk widen as I leaned forward and rested my chin in my hands.

"But you don't LOOK like it. How old are you anyway?" he continued glaring, though now it was directed more at the table top.

"Twenty-one. Not that it's any of your business." he snapped, sounding annoyed. I grinned up at him.

"But you don't LOOK it." I repeated (just in case he hadn't gotten eh message) and the glare hit me once again. "You LOOK my age."

"No I don't!" he protested. I couldn't help it. If it had been anyone else I would have said he was whining. I burst out laughing, placing my head on the table and clutching my sides for effect.

"Shut the fuck up." He muttered and I laughed harder.

"You ARE human!!!! I knew it!!!" I practically shouted and he glared at me harder.

"You need to quite the caffeine." he snapped, casting an unhappy eye towards the drink in my hand. "I though you didn't like coffee anyway." He accused. I took a deep breath to control my giggling before I could answer.

"S'not coffee. It's tea. I can drink that without barfing up little chunks that look like baked beans." I said, grinning as he wrinkled his nose.

"TMI." He said and I burst out laughing again.

"Care to let us in on it, Demy?"

Looking up I found myself staring at Larxene, Marluxia and Luxord. Oh shit, I had completely forgotten about them.

"Who's the cutie?" Marluxia asked, casting an appraising eye over Zexion. "Your new boyfriend? And if not, can I have him?"

I snorted as Zexy's cheeks went red and he opened his mouth, looking caught between wanting to protest and being at a loss for words.

"Guys, meet my Science teacher, Mr. Zexion."

All three of them gave me this "WTFBBQ?!" look.

"You're shitting me." Luxord said, raking an appraising gaze over my teacher, who closed his mouth with an audible click and tried to glare at all four of us at the same time. "He can't possibly be more that sixteen, seventeen at the most." I shrugged.

"Twenty-one." I said. Larxene walked up to him and shoved her face right up into his. He met her stare, straight in the eye (which is something not many people can do) and she straitened after a moment, nodding approvingly.

"So you ditched us to go on a date with your science teacher?" She asked smirking. Zexy opened his mouth again to protest but I beat him to it.

"Yup, that's pretty much the case."

"Demyx! Don't tell them THAT!!" he yelped, staring at me in horror, his cheeks turning a nice cherry color. I mock pouted at him.

"Awwww….Zexy? Are you ashamed of me?"

"Zexy?" Luxord snickered.

"So you guys aren't going out?" Marluxia asked playfully.

"NO!!!" Zexy yelped.

"Yup." I said calmly at the same time. Zexy looked at me, wide eyed for a moment, his cheeks not losing any of their blush. Larxene laughed.

"Well, which is it?"

With a huff, Zexy stood and began picking up the papers scattered across the table. I yelped and tried grabbing his sleeve to make him stay.

"No, no! I'm kidding! I'm just playing! C'ummon Zexy, don't act like a stick-up-the-ass, laugh a little!" He just gave me a withering gaze as he gathered the rest of his papers together and walked calmly out the door.

"Zex! Hey Zexy!!!" I called, jumping up and following him, my friend's laughs and cat calls ringing in my ears.

"Zexy!" He was walking briskly and didn't even acknowledge that he had heard me. "Hey! Wait! I'm sorry! It was just a joke! Did you really think anyone was going to take that seriously?" 

He stopped and turned around so fast I ran right into him, getting a face full of chest.

Wow, that sounds SO wrong…..more like something that would happen to Larxene…..

………

Ok, moving on….

I don't know what kind of cologne he wears, but it sure smelled nice…..I still haven't figured out what scent it is, actually….hmmm. It smelled musky, but spicy at the same time. It was an odd combination, but a good one, and I really didn't want to move since he was warm and his chest under his clothes was surprisingly firm. I took the time to admire it and wonder again if he worked out before he pushed me back a few paces so that we both had reasonable personal space.

Damn. I hate his personal space.

"Besides," I continued as if I hadn't just been burying my nose in his pecs "You're the first person from Destiny I have ever seen here, and I have been coming here since…well, I always used to spend hours here." I shrugged.

Destiny has it's own little mall, and besides, Never Was kids took this place over when it was built. There is no way a Destiny kid would survive in here if they were recognized. Most stayed away out of fear.

Which brought up the interesting question of what Zexy himself was doing here.

The question must have been written on my face because he snorted softly and shrugged.

"Why should I stay away from somewhere just because some snot nosed brats decide they don't want people form a certain school there." He asked aloofly as he moved to a nearby bench and sat down, glancing over ht peepers in his lap again. I plopped down beside him.

"Well, probably the fact that most of those 'snot nosed brats' carry knifes and guns with them. Mall security doesn't get everything you know." He snorted again and I shrugged, exasperated.

"Fine. It will be your funeral. Don't ever say I didn't warn you."

By this point I think he was making a show of ignoring me.

"……Fine, be that way." With a huff, I lifted my until then forgotten cup to my lips and began gulping the now Luke-warm liquid down. Glancing at him from the corner of my eye, I nearly choked when I realized he was watching me- or rather, watching my throat- intently, like there was something very interesting about the way I swallowed. I smirked, wondering if he was thinking about me swallowing something else.

At that thought I really did choke, some of the liquid running form the corners of my mouth as I gasped and coughed, trying not to look like I was suppressing my giggles again.

"Are you ok?" He asked, hitting me gently a couple of times on the back. I nodded, finally getting my coughing under control.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said, waving my hand airily. "Some of it just didn't go down right." I reached up to wipe away the milky liquid running down the corners of my mouth , but stopped when I saw that he was watching me again. I smirked to myself, deciding to do a little experiment of my own.

Lowering my hand, I used my tongue to clean my chin and lips instead. Sure enough, Zexy's eyes were following my tongue's every move intently.

I think he realized that I was still watching him from my peripheral vision when I started smirking. His eyes shot to mine and he turned away quickly, another blush slipping over his pale cheeks.

"What'cha thinking about, Zexy? Wondering what else my tongue can do?" I teased. He gave me a deadly glare, but the effect was kind of lost because his face was a healthy shade of neon by now.

"Demyx! That was uncalled-" He started but I cut him off, not in the mood to have my fun ruined by his "that was uncalled for and unacceptable" rant, which I had heard a lot of over the past week, usually because of the comments I would toss at him during and out of class.

"Yeah yeah, and you'll give me detention and extra homework until I die." I said sarcastically. "But you seem to forget that we're not in school." I smirked at him. He shook his head.

"I'm not going to argue with you on this." He muttered, turning his attention back to the papers on his lap, staring a hole in them. I smirked.

"So does that mean I win?" I asked. He yelped, turning to glare at me again.

"NO!"

I laughed at him for another minuet or so as he continued trying to burn a hole through the paper with his eyes. Then I leaned over his shoulder (making sure to get as close as possible to him) and looked at the papers he was furiously scribbling on.

"Which on is mine?" I asked. He glanced quickly back at me.

"I graded yours last night."

"And?"

His lips twitched briefly into s small smile and I felt my insides twist in something that resembled dread very very closely.

"It's the lowest grade I've had so far."

Well crap.

"Whaaaaaaaaaat?! Lemme see!"

"No!"

"Please?" I tried me best puppy eyes on him.

"No!"

"I'll sing 'The Song!'"

"….No…"

"Loudly!"

"….."

"So the whole mall can hear!!"

"…."

"OH ZEX-"

"OK OK FINE! HERE!"

"Thank you."

I took the paper he thrust at me with a great feeling of satisfaction. Satisfaction which faded at the site of the grade.

"Oh shit, Cloud is going to kill me."

Zexion gave me a curious look, still grinning with smug satisfaction over the bright red 30 staring me in the face. I told you he was sadistic.

"Cloud? Cloud Strife? Why would he care about your grades?" His smirk widened. "I didn't think he was your type, Demyx."

I blinked at him as my mind processed the meaning behind those words.

"OH YUCK! GROSS! NO! EWWW! Zexy, that's just sick! Sorry dude, but incest is just not my thing!" he cocked his head to one side.

"Incest?" he asked. Amusement was still bright in his voice. Thank you. I will be here 'till Thursday. Glad you find the idea of me fucking my own flesh and blood so fucking funny.

"He's my cousin." I elaborated. "I'm living with him….for the time being." I added as an after thought, the hearing Wednesday coming back to mind. I took a moment to scowl unhappily before turning my attention back to my science teacher to find him giving me another odd look.

He surprised me the most though was when he reached over and placed his fingers under my chin, tilting my head up gently. Even when we were sitting down, he still had a few inches on me.

That bastard.

"That's the first time I've ever seen you look mad about something." He said softly. Well damn! He made it sound like he had just discovered a new species of something cute and cuddly.

"Yeah…..so?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow at him. This was…weird.

He frowned, his eyes flickering over my face. "It doesn't suit you."

And then he let me go and turned away.

Hehe, awkward….or at least for me. He seemed to have no problem with it.

"You're class work is terrible, and this test is just….." he sighed and shook his head. "You obviously learned nothing last year, and you are too far behind my class for me to allow you to continue on like this. Your math teacher says she is having the same problem with you."

"The way I see it" and here he tuned back around to face me, looking once again like the teacher I saw every weekday. "you have two choices." He held up tow fingers for emphasis. "One: I can send you back a grade in science and Math. You'll have to take all of last year over again in those courses, and you'll graduate a year behind. OR…" he added, interrupting me before I could tell him that was bull shit. "or, you can come and see me every afternoon after school for tutoring. I know it's very early in the year for tutoring, but if you are allowed to continue as you are, you'll never catch up. It's your choice."

I frowned at him.

"So do I have to stay after school with Miss Aries too?" I asked. Man, two extra classes a day? No thank you, I would rather fail. Zexy just kind of smirked.

"No, just me. I'm qualified to teach both subjects. I just don't. Too much work." I laughed and he even grinned a little.

"So…" I said, leaning over and laying my head on his shoulder. His expression turned wary, but he didn't push me away.

Yay, score one for me.

"you're Ivolunteering/I to stay after school, in a classroom, in an empty building, for hours, with Ime/I." His expression tightened, but,(to my surprise) he didn't push me away, even then. He simply sighed and rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Yes, Demyx, I am indeed. That is the point of Iafter school/I tutoring." I grinned.

"I thought the point was learning, not being locked in a building after hours with a student." I teased. He just rolled his eyes, though the redness creeping across his cheeks kind of gave away the fact that the remark bothered him.

"Forget it." He sighed, standing again.

"No, wait!" I grabbed his sleeve. "Ok, but you have to do something for me please?"

He gave me an I-trust-you-not look.

"I'm not having sex with you." he said.

Wow, bummer.

"Well, as disappointing as that is, that wasn't what I was going to ask." I said. He raised a skeptical eyebrow, but stayed put.

"Teach me to play the piano?"

The second eyebrow joined the first one.

"I'm sorry. Repeat that?" I sighed, rolling my own eyes.

"Music is fun for me. Math and science is not…..unless, of course, you want to study anatomy…" He glared at me as I playfully (well, ok, maybe not completely in play) ran my eyes up and down his body. "Bu you've made it clear that that won't happen. So, I might not show up…" He glared down at me.

"I don't see anything in it for me." He said smoothly. "It would mean dealing with you for longer than I have to."

Ouch. That hurt. Ok, that meant war.

"Oh come on, I can't be that bad."

"You don't have to put up with you."

"I'll give you a blow job."

"Demyx-!"

"It was just a suggestion!"

"I really don't know what I'm going to do with you…"

"A hand job then?"

"What?!"

"A hand job it is!"

"Demyx-!! Fine, I'll give you two lessons a week. Just please, if I do this, Ino more sexual jokes!/I It that clear?!" I flinched at the pure frustration in his voice. I didn't know it was bothering him Ithat/I much.

"I'm just kidding! Geez! Don't pop a vein."

He yanked his arm free from my grasp suddenly, not looking at me as he spoke.

"Good. Staring Monday then. I'll see you in class." He looked at his watch." I have to go. Enjoy the rest of your weekend."

And then he left.

"Yeah. Sure." I said, watching him walk off quickly into the crowds thronging among the various shops to be swallowed whole in seconds.

That was weird and abrupt.

Maybe he had a date?

"Hope he's late." I muttered under my breath as I got up and threw my cup away. The maliciousness in my voice probably should have bothered me, but for some reason, it really didn't.

ok, so none of these chapters have been changed so far asside formn bing unbetaed, but the next chater will have to be edited...for reasons. I don't know when my beta will be back in action, but when she is I will take this story down. 


	7. the actual chapter 6

Me: Ok, who else has noticed that its been forever since I updated this? "Im not going to take it down from like I said I would, but Instead, once I post the whole story, I'm going to revise the chapter, fix my mistakes, exc, and possibly transfer it over to my other account, since I almost never use this one anymore…but that idea is still up in the air. **shrugs**

**Chapter 6: **

**Ok, Now We're Getting Somewhere…Though Whether That Somewhere is Good or Bad…Well, Whatever**

So yeah, that was my weekend in a nutshell. Now, I know what you are probably thinking: "WTF, dude, the title is 'My Life's a _Soap Opera_.Where's the Soap?!"

Yeah, well, hold your horses, John Wayne. I'm not done yet, am I? Honestly, all of that was just background information so that I could get into the real story. (Kind of like the prologue) After all, if you don't know what's going on now, you don't know where I'll be later.

It's sort of like how where you go to the mall with your friends, and you tell them "hey, I'm gonna go check out that new Kingdom Hearts game, I heard it was awesome!" or something; they don't know where you're going until you tell them….

Or something.

….

Yeah, That made no sense. I'll stop now with the analogies.

So anyway, apart from re-meeting Axel and introducing myself to Zexy (and finding out that I suck at science, but there was honestly no surprise there), my first week of school was pretty normal.

It was the next week that was really worth taking notice of.

Well, actually, it was mostly Wednesday, but the first two days had some notable events too.

I woke up the way I normally did on Mondays, with Sora using me as a human trampoline (honestly, when I found out who the fuck was giving him coffee and then sending him into my room, they were D.E.A.D.) and Roxas trying to beat me to death with a pillow. (Which didn't work, by the way.)

I got up, ate a piece of toast, grabbed my book (and homework, damn Zexy) and headed out to the car.

A twenty minuet car ride later, and I was once again basking in the silence that was Mr. Zexion's room. (He got me a Pepsi that day because he said the vending machines were out of Coke.)

Nothing notable happened for a good part of the morning, up until I got to Mr. Xaldin's class. The English teacher was just as enthusiastic about his class as normal, and the actual class went fine.

"Demyx." He said as I was leaving. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" I paused and shrugged.

"Sure." I said, figuring I didn't really have a choice in the matter anyhow. I walked up to his desk and he was silent until the rest of the class had filed out. Then he went and shut the door to his room so that we wouldn't be bothered. I tilted my head curiously to one side.

"I wanted to talk to you about Zexion…" he said slowly. I raised an eyebrow. "You've been spending quite a lot of your free time in his room, and I was curious as to why." he said, coming over to sit on the edge of his desk.

"I like his room." I said bluntly. "Is there a problem with that?" He shook his head.

"Well…no. It's just odd. For one thing, Zexion isn't the type to get along with any of his students well enough for them to want to come to his class during their free time….and you don't even have him first period….so….I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm exceedingly curious, and my curiosity tends to get the better of me." he flashed me a grin. I smiled back.

"I like his room because it's quiet and because he puts up with me." I said honestly. Mr. Xaldin raised an eyebrow.

"Then you're one of the lucky ones. Zexion hardly ever puts up with anyone if he doesn't have to. He barely puts up with his co-workers."

There was a sharp, almost mocking edge to the way he said that that made me bristly slightly, but I shrugged it off; Zexion was rather anti-social, after all.

"Was that all you wanted?" I asked, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. "I'm going to be late for my next class." He looked up at the clock.

"Ah, I apologize for that, Demyx." He said, reaching down for some paper and a pen and scribbling a quick note. "My students are probably all outside wondering what is going on." He continued with a laugh as he set the pen down and handed the note to me as he stood and walked me to the door, his hand on the small of my back.

"Well, then, I'll be seeing you tomorrow Demyx." he said as he opened the door. I smiled at him and said a quick good bye. before walking off.

However, just before I left, I could have sworn I felt his hand slide from my back to cup my ass.

I turned to look at him, but he had already walked inside. I shrugged a bit to myself. It had probably only been my imagination, and if it wasn't, then it had probably been an accident.

He probably hadn't even realized he had done it.

After that, it was a regular school day.

And then, there was tutoring.

To get off to a great start, Zexion was a whole ten minuets late.

I had been about to just give up and go home when he had strolled, casual as you please, into the room and started going on about the chapter we had just started on in our super-heavy-books-of-DOOM.

"Yo, Zexy." I cut him off, ignoring his irritated glare. "if you're going to make me come every night, could you please at least show up on time?" Yeah, I was kind of cranky, mostly because I was tired and not looking forward to working after class for another hour or two, especially since I had homework to do. (Once again, thanks to him, mostly. I swear the guy was a sadist…) He arched an eyebrow at me.

"You're the one who has to take this class in order to pass." he said, somewhat coldly. "Besides, I had a brief staff meeting that I could not skip, and I figured that ten or fifteen minuets would not make a difference in your apparently oh so busy schedule." he closed his book with a snap and headed for the door. "However, if you feel you do not need my help to pass, you are free to go."

Fuck.

"Zexy…I'm sorry, ok." I half grumbled, half whined and he paused, but didn't turn around. "I'm just tired. Mondays suck balls." I heard something that might have been a small chuckle form him, and he turned around and headed back over, this time walking up to me and the desk I was seated at. To my surprise, he pulled up a chair and sat down in front of me, re-opening his book.

Then it occurred to me that he probably hadn't been going to leave at all, and I had played right into his hand on that one.

Fucking Bastard….

"What about the last lesson did you not understand?" He asked.

And we worked on that for the rest of our time together that night.

Tuesday passed by in much of the same manner. This time, Mr. Xaldin did not hold me after class, something for which I was glad. It seemed every time I had looked up that day in English, he was watching me with this weird expression on his face.

I chalked it up to me being paranoid. Again.

That is, until I was heading for Zexion's room that evening for tutoring.

"Demyx." I heard Mr. Xaldin's voice call me form his room. I stopped and hesitated for a moment before walking over to the door curiously.

Mr. Xaldin was seated at his desk, shuffling though some papers. He smiled when he looked up and saw me, motioning for me to come in. I did so with a little trepidation, wondering if he was going to make me late for my tutoring with Zexy.

Then I decided that I didn't care. That asshole had kept me waiting yesterday. Now was the time for payback.

"Yes sir?" I asked as he stood and made his way towards me. He had a paper in his and I eyed it curiously. He noticed my gaze and chuckled. "It's your test." He said. (he had given us one earlier that day.) "I thought you might like to see what you made on it."

I nodded, walking the rest of the distance over to him and taking the offered paper.

I made a 105, plus the bonus questions.

"Your grade is the highest in your class. You scored perfectly, and I've only had one or two others do that so far." he grinned at me. "Congratulations." he said, reaching out to pat my shoulder.

"Thanks." I said with a grin up at him. See? I told you I wasn't Literately challenged.

"Of course…" there was a thoughtful pause, during which I began to become aware of the fact that he hadn't moved his hand form my shoulder yet, though I didn't give it much thought. "You know, I don't mean this as an insult…but you are doing much better than I had expected you too….no offence, but Never Was usually doesn't turn out the best of people…" he laughed slightly, "though there are defiantly some smart ones that come from there…Zexion is proof of that…" it could have been my imagination acting up again, but it sounded to me almost like his voice had taken on a bitter quality. And….Zexy? I tilted my head to one side, puzzled.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked. He chuckled, slightly, though it didn't sound much like there was any humor behind it.

"Ah well, Zexion graduated form Never Was High about three or four years ago…I thought he would have told you that, seeing as you two have that in common…." I blinked.

"N-no, he never told me that…" I said, and even though I knew that that little bit of information about my teacher was none of my business, for some reason, it kind of hurt to know that he hadn't told me when, just as Mr. Xaldin had said, he and I had that in common.

'Ah, yeah…well, don't feel bad…" he said, moving his hand from my shoulder to rub at the side of my neck in what as probably supposed to be a comforting gesture, but I found rather….awkward? "he has a tendency to keep everything to himself…even things that could be considered important to other people…." I frowned. Ok, this conversation had taken a turn for the odd…

"You know.." he said slowly, a small frown on his own face. "You have very pretty eyes." I blinked up at him. Ok, where had _** THAT**_ come from?!

"Uh?" Once again. Master of eloquence. That would be me, with the blond hair.

Well, blondish brown, but who's really keeping track of that?

"Er…Mr. Xaldin….what are you doing?" I asked, my mind coming to screeching halt. He grinned at me, but it wasn't the normal grin he gave me in class. This was different. This was…creepy.

"Oh, I don't know…" he said, stepping closer, defiantly invading my personal space. "having some fun?"

Was this what Zexy felt like whenever I messed with him? If so, I defiantly had a newfound respect for the man.

Mr. Xaldin's hand began to slowly message the side of my neck and I pulled away, completely confused and more than a little alarmed.

For one thing, this was rather out of the blue random, and for another thing, it gave the impression that he was…hitting on me?

"Ok, have you been drinking?" Was the first thing out of my mouth. He blinked at me. Then he laughed.

"No, no I haven't." He said softly. I squirmed and tried to think of an excuse to leave.

"I have tutoring in Mr. Zexion's class now, and I'm kind of late…"

Yay! Zexy is so useful for things! I'll have to be extra nice to him today.

At my words, he seemed to stiffen slightly before turning and heading back to his desk, thank God. "My apologies for keeping you then." He said, his tone amused as he looked over his shoulder at me, but, it seemed, as with everything else he had been doing lately, not his usual kind of amusement, and I wasn't sure I liked it. "I was simply making an observation."

"Oh." I paused a beat. Then "About what?" he shook his head and grinned.

"Ah, I can't tell you that." He said. I scowled (NOT pouted) and his grin widened. "Maybe some other time though…" he trialed off, looking me up and down, that odd expression back on his face. "Yes…" he added after a moment. "defiantly some other time." He turned back to his desk and I took that to mean I was dismissed.

I practically ran back to Zexy's class.

In fact, I ran into him in the doorway.

"Sorry, Mr. Xaldin wanted to talk to me." I said, pulling away form him and brushing past him and going to sit down. He looked at me curiously and nodded. Then he picked the text book up and came to sit next to me this time, picking up where we had left off the night before.

I didn't really pay much attention to him. I just sat there next to him staring blankly at the book.

I kept replaying what had just happened in my head, as well as going over my past conversations with the man, trying to figure out what he was up to.

Zexion, after a few minuets of trying to ask me the same question over and over again, noticed. (Of course, I would have worried if he hadn't…)

"You know, Demyx, after school tutoring is just like class. You have to pay attention to what you're being told to get anywhere." I looked up at him duly. He frowned at me. "What's the matter? Usually you have more energy than this?" (I think the last part was said in an ironic tone.) I shrugged.

"Just thinking." I answered. He made an "o" shape with his mouth that seemed somewhat exaggerated and I heard him mutter under his breath

"No wonder you looked like you were in pain."

I punched him on the shoulder.

He punched me back.

"Hey, that's assault on a minor." I said. He just rolled his eyes.

"Well, now that you're acting normally again…" he answered sarcastically. I snorted.

"Hey." I said after a moment of companionable silence. "What do you know about Mr. Xaldin?" He arched an eyebrow at me. "I mean like, personality wise?" He shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know much. I tend to avoid….mingling…with my co-workers." He said dryly and with somewhat of a grimace. "_Especialy_ Xaldin…." he added, more under his breath, but I still heard him since we were sitting so close together.

"In other words you tend to blend into the background." I said just as dryly. He rolled his eyes again and looked back at the book.

"Yeah, something like that." He said. I leaned my head on his shoulders.

"Well, you are really quiet. It's part of the reason I like you!" he shot me a skeptical look.

"You seem more like the type to love noise and making noise, what with the type of company you keep." He replied. I shrugged, sighing softly and closing my eyes.

"Hey…" I felt his arm slide around my shoulders as he adjusted me so that I was sitting up slightly and facing him. He did not, however, push me away when I re-adjusted myself so that I was both facing him and laying my head back on his shoulder. "Why do you ask?"

"Ah….just wondering…he seems kind of weird…." I muttered. I heard him chuckle and glared up at him. "It's not that funny! I'm entitled to ask when a teacher starts….whatever it was he was doing." I grumbled. "If he was even doing anything at all."

"….What?"

"That's what I'm tryen' to find out." I answered, closing my eyes. "Now hold still. You smell nice and make a great pillow, but the effect is kind of ruined when you keep squirming around." I heard him let out an odd combination of a snort and a growl as he tried to push me off of him, but there was no real force behind the effort, and so therefore I refused to move. He sighed after a moment, giving up.

"I'm not going to get anywhere with you tonight, am I?" He asked in exasperation. I grinned.

"Well, that depends on where you're trying to get." I said smartly. "If it's in my pants, then-"

"Demyx!" He said quickly, his tone warning. I snickered.

"Fine, be that way…" I replied in mock hurt, not even bothering to open my eyes. "I see how you are! You don't love me! I'll bet you even have someone on the side!" I felt his shoulders rise and fall in a sigh.

"So what if I do?" I blinked, opening my eyes and looking up at him. He was staring straight ahead, but I could see a smirk on his lips. I grinned.

"Well, in that case" I said in a mock haughty tone. "no sex for you tonight!" Instead of yelling at me like he normally did, he simply chuckled.

"Well, damn…" he muttered and I laughed.

There was silence for a moment as I turned my head on his shoulder to look at my book, which was still lying open, alone and forgotten on the table, thinking.

"hey, Zexy…" I said at length. When he 'hmmmed' to show I had his attention (he was also staring at the book. I think we were both stalling for time in regards to our lesson) I continued on with my question. "I didn't know you graduated form Never Was…" I said, hoping that Mr. Xaldin hadn't been just pulling my leg. The incredulous look he gave me didn't help much.

"How did you know that?" He asked, surprise and some suspicion in his voice, pulling away from me. I looked up at him and blinked.

"Mr. Xaldin told me…" I said honestly, watching him closely. He relaxed slightly and made a face.

"Ah, he would be the one to say something about that…." he muttered. I tilted my head to one said and I think I saw him almost grin.

"How would he know?" I asked. He sighed.

"Ah, he and I were in the same grade, for a time." he said with a small smile, which widened at my surprised face. "but I jumped a year and ended up skipping my Senior year all together and graduated ahead of him…"

"So, were you two friends?" I asked. An odd look passed over his face.

"You…could say that." He said. I frowned at him but before I could ask him what he meant, he had turned back to the book on the table and was yakking on about the lesson once again.

I resigned myself to the fact that he wasn't willing to share anymore information about himself with me.

I was kind of sulky for the rest of the session.

And then came Wednesday.

Dun Dun Dun Dun!!!!

Yes, insert scary organ/funeral music here and you might have a good idea of how I was feeling when I woke up that morning…

It started out a little differently. First of all, the court hearing was on the mainland, meaning we would have to take the half hour ferry ride and then drive another half hour to get to the court house on the other side of town, and second of all, I actually had to dress up for it. Therefore, Cloud himself came in and roused me before the twins were even up.

You know how when you know something bad is going to happen to you, it never seems quite real up until the point it actually happens…like, it takes that long for it to sink in "wow, this isn't just a dream or something that was said just for the sake of being said….this is actually going to happen…to _me!_

It's accompanied with a feeling of disbelief, surrealism, and, in my case, melancholy (and quite a bit of worry). I dressed and ate (though my appetite had somewhat deserted me and left me with an annoying stomach ache) without saying a word to Cloud, which seemed to suit him just fine. We both climbed into his car and headed off.

Neither of us said a word to each other until we were at the ferry.

"I tried to put in the papers for adoption, or at least legal guardianship." He said suddenly and out of the blue. I refused to look at him, and kept glaring out the window. "They wouldn't let me. They said that since I was only eighteen and I'm already taking care of Sora and Roxas, and haven't graduated yet, I can't take on responsibility for another person…."

"They didn't seem to mind that when they dumped me with you in the first place." I growled into the palm of my hand. I had my elbow resting on the part of the door where the window slides up and down, and my chin was in my hand. I think I was scaring passers by with my glare.

Roxas and Cloud had taught me well.

Cloud sighed and reached out to put his hand on my shoulder but I shrugged it off. Somewhere in my mind, I knew I was being unreasonable, but at the moment, I just didn't care. I didn't want to go where I was going, and I was a little mad at myself because somewhere not quite so deep down, but privately, I was wishing that Cloud would have dropped one of the twins and taken me in instead. This feeling of envy made me ashamed of myself, and it only increased my sour mood.

We were silent for the rest of the trip to the court house, and the tension in the car was stronger than before.

When we reached our destination, Cloud offered to stay until the hearing was over to drive me back to destiny, but I told him it would probably take a couple of hours (there were quite a few people there ahead of us) and that he should go back and look after the twins.

I told him this without looking at him once.

He told me to call him when the hearing was over.

After a few seconds of no answer form me, he got back in his car and drove off.

I walked into the sweeping red-brick and stained glass building, the glass double doors squeaking as I entered and as they closed behind me. People were hurrying about their business without giving me a passing glance, and I briefly felt an illogical annoyance that the world hadn't stopped, or that no one was making a bigger fuss about what was happening.

I sighed and trudged up the marble steps to the floor I had been told to come to. I refused to take the elevator because I didn't like the feeling in the pit of my stomach every time one of them started up or down. Plus, being in such a confined area with other people creeped me out and made me antsy. It always had, so I just avoided the small metal boxes. I would say I was claustrophobic, but I'm not, so I blame the elevators.

Damn metal boxes….

Luckily, the hearing was on the third floor. It wasn't a big one or anything, since my parents hadn't wanted a huge deal made out of the hearing. In fact, it was just, them, their lawyers, and me in the judges chambers.

Reaching the correct floor, I wandered down the hall, looking for the correct room. There were a lot more people up on that floor, and I had the sinking feeling that this was going to take longer than I had at first thought.

Sure enough, as I rounded the corner, there was my mom and dad, sitting on a bench outside the office-like door with about three other 'families.' My mom jumped up and immediately race over to my side. I felt a sharp pang of annoyance when she once again began to play with my hair, saying "Oh sweetie, couldn't you have at least I tried /I to do something else with it?" She asked, trying to pet it down. I didn't answer her, shrugging out form under her hand and going to sit on the hard, pseudo wood bench, keeping a reasonable amount of space between my parents and myself.

We waited another hour and a half before it was our turn. When we entered the office, the silence was absolute and complete. Our footsteps didn't even make any noise because of the plush white carpeting on the floor.

I vaguely wondered how hard it was to keep it that white, or if the carpeting was new.

The judge sat behind a large mahogany desk in a black leather office chair that looked real, expensive, and very comfortable. Fucker must have been rich or something. The name plate on his desk read 'Judge Rufus Shinra' in really black and rather imposing letters.

The guy himself didn't look nearly old enough to be a judge; All blond haired and blue eyed and slender, I would be surprised if he was in his mid-twenties, early thirties.

And, judging by his last name, I was willing to risk a guess and say he was Tseng and Elena's boss.

The way he looked at you, however, was as imposing as his name plate, and it made you kind of want to not be there (not that I wanted to be there anyway). Like, you wanted to get this over with as soon as possible, just so you could get out of the room.

Tseng and Elena continued to stand even as my father, mother and I took seats in the padded hardwood, stiff backed chairs placed in front of his desk.

He arched an eyebrow at Tseng and the man simply opened his brief case, seemingly unfazed by the coldness that seemed to radiate off the guy, and the hearing began.

The hearing it's self took only about half an hour. In the end, this was Shinra's verdict;

"_Rehab or not, the amount of time she has been sober is insubstantial for me to award the kid to her. He will go with his father, though Ms. Arquiate will still be allowed visiting rights on weekends and special occasions. " My mother started to protest, but one look from the blond man and she fell silent. Then he turned his attention to my father. "I expect him to be moved in with you by next Wednesday. Tseng will come by to make sure that you have done what I have asked." My father nodded, his face grim as he stood and thanked the man and Tseng and my mother fumed silently beside Elena. We left the room shortly after that to let another squabbling couple have their turn._

And so now, there I was, sitting on one of the benches under a large clear glass window a little further down the hall, my head in my hands, feeling generally depressed and absorbed in a bout of self pity.

Oddly enough, it wasn't even the fact that I had to leave Cloud and Sora and Roxas that was bothering me the most, though that was defiantly a large part of it….

It was the fact that my father lived on the mainland, and the first thing he had told me as we had left the Judges chambers and he had made a beeline for the elevators was that he was transferring me back to Never Was.

Friday was to be my last day at Destiny.

I sighed, looking up and out the window blankly, thinking. Both of my parents had already left, my father in a business-like hurry, telling me in short, clipped words that he had to get back to him office for a meeting he was already late to and that he expected me to be packed and ready to go when he came by to pick me up on Saturday. My mother hadn't said a word, simply sweeping past me in a huff. Tseng and Elena had both given me somewhat apologetic looks and left to do whatever it was they had to do.

I contemplated taking the buss back to the ferry before I realized that I had most of left my money at home-er-Cloud's house. I had just enough to pay for the ferry ride, and that was it.

I was going to have to walk.

I sighed, standing and figuring now was as good a time as ever to start. I wasn't about to call Cloud. For one thing, the ride up had been awkward enough. For another….well, Cloud was probably at school. Even if he wasn't, I didn't want to cause him any more problems. He had to pay for the gas he used, after all.

"Tough day?"

I yelped and spun around, having been unaware of the person who had come up behind me.

The Tall, red-headed man behind me smirked, amusement written all over his face, and I felt annoyance flare up inside of me even as I recognized him.

"Reno?" I asked, half disbelievingly. The smirk widened.

"Tha one'n only." He said, shoving his hands in his pockets as he regarded me, still looking amused. "An' you would be Axel's lil' friend…Cloud's cousin, right?" I gave him a look that said 'Well, duh.' which he ignored.

"What are you doing here?" I asked Axel's brother. The shrugged, looking around vaguely.

"Work 'ere." He answered. "What're I you /I doing 'ere?" I scowled at him.

"Tha' bad, huh?" he asked. I glared.

"Would I be here if it was good?" I snapped. He simply shrugged.

"Ok, ya gotta point there, bu' not everyone comes outta here unhappy, yo." he pointed out, sitting on the bench I had just deserted. "Speaken' a which….ya waiten' fer someone?" I sighed and sat down again next to him.

"No…" I said despondently. "I was just about to leave, actually. If I leave now, I should make it to the ferry in time to catch the two o'clock one." he looked at the large clock hanging up on the wall in front of us, raising an eyebrow.

"It'll take ya two hours at get there?" I shrugged.

"Well, barring getting lost, it should only take me about an hour and a half to walk at the most." I replied. "But I'm willing to bet I get lost." He tilted his head as he stretched his legs out in front of him. I couldn't help but notice that, compared to Tseng and Elena, he was dressed rather sloppily, with his jacket open all the way, his dress shirt undone part of the way, no tie or belt, and wrinkled pants that were sliding low on his hips due to afore mentioned lack of belt. Sloppy.

Just the way I remembered him.

"Wanna ride?" He asked casually. I looked at him curiously and he shrugged. "Was headen' out on my lunch break anyway, thought maybe ya could use a lift?" I shrugged.

"Why not?" I asked with a sigh. He grinned and jumped up, stretching.

"A'right. Let's go then."

Reno drove a motorcycle. Go figure. (Cloud had one too, but it was a different module. )

"So…" he said as he pulled his helmet on. "Things didn' turn out tha way ya wanted um' to?" I shook my head, pulling on my own black plastic safety device.

"They wouldn't have either way…" I said. He glanced back at me.

"Yeah, sometimes things like that happen…." he said slowly. We didn't talk anymore because he started up the machine and pulled out of the parking lot.

When I got home, Cloud and the twins weren't there yet. It was a little after one (Reno had gotten me there in time to catch the early Ferry coughhespedcough) and so there was about two and a half hours left in the school day. Sighing, I changed clothes and took a quick shower, pulling on a regular black t-shirt and a random pair of jeans that happened to be lying within arms reach at the time.

Grabbing my bag, I made my way to the school. It was a thirty minuet walk, but I needed something to get my mind off of the last few hours.

That….and I wanted to see Zexy.

When I walked in to Zexion's room that afternoon, he looked surprised and oddly relived to see me, though he tried to hide it.

"Ah, Demyx. I was afraid something had happened to you." He said it as a joke, but his tone had far to much relief in it for it to be taken as one. I looked at him questioningly as I slipped the door partially shut, leaving it open a few inches.

"Why?"

He sighed. "Because you didn't show up this morning, you weren't here for second period and Sora and even Axel were strangely subdued today…. Cloud missed the first half of his period…." (Cloud had a Science class with Zexy first period…and had I not been feeling lousy, that statement totally would have made me snicker.) he shrugged a little uneasily, probably because he had just admitted to being worried about me. I gave him a half hearted smile.

"I had some family issues to take care of. I just got here an few hours ago." I answered shortly, heading over to our usual desk and sitting down, pulling my book out of my bag and laying it on the table in front of me. "What did I miss this morning?"

He gave me an odd look as he walked over and sat beside me, but he didn't ask anymore questions, probably knowing that I didn't want to talk about it.

For some reason, that just made me feel worse.

I tried to concentrate on what he was saying, but my mind kept wandering.

Two more days was all I had left with Cloud and the twins, and even Axel.

Two more days was all I had left with a real family.

Two more days. That's all I had left at that school.

How did I get so attached to a school after only a week and a half, you might ask?

It wasn't so much the school, even though I _defiantl_y preferred it here to Never Was, as the fact that, really, this all meant that I had only two more days left with Zexion too.

And that…really, _REALLY_ bugged me.

Besides the twins and Axel, obviously, Zexion was pretty much the only friend at Destiny, and I wanted to leave him about as much as I wanted to leave the others, even though, I reminded myself, I could always run into him on the weekends at the Mainland Mall, but still….

The stinging in my eyes was getting worse as my frustration mounted, and the text book in front of me was starting to go blurry, just a little.

I tried to focus on what Zexion was saying and the words in the book, only to realize that Zexion was silent, and the more I focused on the book, the worse the blurring became.

I wasn't going to cry, I wasn't, I wasn't, I wasn't…..

I chanted that to myself in my head as two large tears hit the table with a soft pitter-pat.

"Demyx…?"

Zexion wasn't sitting very far away form me. In fact, our knees were brushing. I was sure that, if he had been looking at me, he had seem the tears. I wasn't going to lift my head to find out though.

"Demyx?" He said again, his voice taking on a more firm quality. "What's the matter?"

It took me a moment to answer past the lump suddenly obscuring my airway. Pesky lumps. "Nothing.." I muttered, and I was vaguely proud of myself for the nonchalance I was able to insert into my voice.

I probably would have been prouder if he had bought it.

"Demyx…where were you this morning?" he asked, his voice still firm.

"Nowhere." I answered again, though this time my voice had risen an octave. I clenched my teeth. Damnit.

"uh-hu…" he said as two more tears slipped down my nose and hit the table.

"I don't wanna talk about it. Lets just get on with the lesson." I muttered. He sighed.

"That's kind of hard to do when you're not listening." He said, his tone exasperated. I glared at the table.

"Well, it's kind of hard to listen when you're not talking." I snapped back, regretting my tone a moment later. It was to late for take-backs though. I waited for him to get mad or to pull the stunt he had pulled the first night. To my surprise (and slight chagrin) I felt his hand touch my shoulder gently, if not a little hesitantly.

"Dem, you know, if you need to talk about something…I mean…I'm your teacher, so I should be concerned, so, I should know if …" He paused, sounding both awkward and exasperated. "Dem, is anything wrong?" He finally spat out. "Because, you know, I'm not very good at the whole comforting thing, and I realize that crying in front of someone probably isn't exactly on you to-do list, but I'll listen….if you ever want someone to…talk to…." he started out in a rush, but finished in a slow, almost unsure voice.

It was cute. It was really fucking cute.

And in two days….

I let out a choked laugh and looked up at him.

"I'm transferring back to Never Was on Saturday. Friday will be my last day here." I said bluntly, watching his face for his reaction. His eye kind of widened and he got a 'processing info' look on his face. Then he blinked, opened his mouth, closed it, blinked again, then finally spit out what was probably the first thing that came to mind.

"Already?"

I laughed. It sounded a little bitter.

"Yeah. My dad wants me to go somewhere closer to 'home." I shrugged. We both fell silent. It wasn't our usual uncomfortable silence, and it wasn't a comfortable one either. It was somewhere in the middle, a silence that said he was looking for something to say and I was waiting for him to say it. Finally he looked at me and said softly "That's not all there is to it?" I blinked at him.

"Why would you say that?" I asked him. He shrugged.

"You've only been here a week. You can't be I that /I attached to all of the work we give you." he pointed out. I laughed half heartedly as a couple more tears drifted down my cheeks.

"It's not the school I've gotten attached to." I admitted, looking him straight in the eyes so he got my meaning. He blinked at me and his cheeks flushed slightly.

"Uh…Axel?" He guessed weakly. I snorted.

"Oh, yeah, I really can't live without him." I said sarcastically. The I sighed and sniffed a bit to keep the mucus that was trying to escape my nose where it belonged. "You know…" I added, laying my head down on his shoulder (gives more meaning to the phrase 'Shoulder to cry on') "I really though I had a chance at a normal family for once…instead of, you know, a broken one….but I guess Karma really hates me. Do you think I was a bad person in my last life? Maybe I killed someone. Probably a Science teacher."

I was trying to make a joke out of it. But for some reason, the thought of not walking into Zexion's class and making some kind of perverted crack at him every morning made me feel like I as going to either cry, throw up, or both. Not waking up to Sora jumping up and down on me and screaming in my ear, or Roxas trying to brain my to death with my pillow, or Cloud's silent scrutinizes that made you feel like he was examining every inch of your brain, or Axel's ridiculous antics with the twins only made it that much worse.

My eyes were burning again. I rubbed at them, trying to get them to stop their fucking leaking, but I think I made it worse.

It occurred to me that Zexion had an arm around my shoulders in an odd hug and his other was rubbing my back in slow, gentle circles. I raised my head and gave him a shaky smile that I meant to be thankful. He gave me an odd look and bit his lip.

I sniffed gently, and opened my mouth to tell him that I was fine, I would get over it, and he didn't have to look at me like that.

He kissed me before I could get the words out.


End file.
